Orlando Magic: The curious case of Mohamed Bamba

The story of the Orlando Magic so far this season has been a depressingly familiar one. The only difference is that this was a year that was supposed to bring so much more, and which began with a 6-2 start and a real belief that they could get back to the playoffs and make even more noise this time out.

Then the injuries began to pile up, and the moment Markelle Fultz went down with an ACL tear, it was over. Fans, in a desperate attempt to try and mask the pain at having slipped out of relevancy once again, tried to talk themselves into the fact that the Magic will have a higher lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. A class who are highly thought of.

That’s all well and good, but the actual reality of losing a pile of games over the course of the season is still tough to sit through. Especially as the organization did their fair share of that from the years 2012-2017. Again to try and offset the tough nature of the Magic’s reality, fans can point towards the growth of young players.

Fultz and Jonathan Isaac might be gone due to injury, but rookie Cole Anthony has quickly found himself in the starting lineup. He’s making a ton of mistakes, but it has been enjoyable to see a young player who plays aggressively (and who possesses an offensive game which has been sorely lacking in Orlando for years( learn on the job. Yet there’s another young guy not featuring.

What the hell is going on with Orlando Magic center Mohamed Bamba?

Now in his third season, we would be putting it kindly to say he’s never got going in a Magic uniform. It almost felt like he came along at the wrong time. Rather than getting some time to figure out his place in the league and with the franchise like Isaac did, Bamba was soon joined by a head coach in Steve Clifford who trusts veterans more and wants to win.

To that end, the Magic have been successful, as Clifford has guided the organization back to the playoffs in his two full seasons so far (although this season looks a step too far for him). Bamba on the other hand had to make do with spot minutes, a limited role, playing behind an All-Star in Nikola Vucevic at the top of his game, a leg fracture and finally complications around getting Covid-19.

That is a terrible run of luck, combined with a far from ideal situation. However, at this point, it is clear the Magic are struggling to round out their rotation as a result of injuries. Gary Clark for example has appeared in 16 games, starting three. He’s averaging 3.6 points per contest. Somehow, that is less than Bamba (4.0).

Obviously, Clark and Bamba play different positions, and both Vucevic and Khem Birch are the bigs who coach Clifford trusts, and rightly so. But it is clear the Magic are going nowhere this season, they will be among the three worst teams in the East record wise when the year is complete. If ever there was a chance to give Bamba some run, it is now.

Yet it is still not happening. Why? Clearly the coaching staff works with him all the time, so they must really be seeing something in him that is keeping him off the court. We have been told he is now fit and healthy after his struggles, yet Bamba has only appeared in five games so far this season.

This is at a time when the Magic need all the help they can get. Last season Bamba shot 34.6 percent from deep. He did this while taking less than two 3-pointers a night, and that’s not exactly what he’s out there for anyway. But Anthony could do with guys stretching the court for him to penetrate, and the appeal of both Bamba and Isaac was they were guys with the bodies of centers, albeit skinny ones, who could score from deep at a passable level.

Seven minutes a game is awful, although a clue as to why things have gotten as bad as they have may be in the fact that, in the two games where Bamba played over 10 minutes so far this year, the Magic have lost both. Perhaps he is just not conducive to winning basketball, at least in his current form. But again, we return to the fact that the Magic aren’t going to win most nights anyway.

So could it be that the front office, after 114 games, and one single start, are just through with the player? Bamba can become a restricted free agent next season, and right now it doesn’t look like the franchise will be in any rush to bring him back. But Vucevic won’t play at this level forever, and as much as fans like Birch, he’s a backup big at best.

Recently Vucevic and Birch have shared the court together, and you have to think if Bamba was in the place of Birch, it would at least create new looks and set plays for the guys on the court to work with. Despite so many reasons to give Bamba a look, the Magic are reluctant to do so.

Which at this point sure looks like his run with the team is done. Why they wouldn’t give him one more shot in this environment is a mystery, and it is doing nothing for his trade value either. The rest of this story might come out in time, but for now, the plight of Mohamed Bamba is as baffling as it is sad to see, for a 22-year-old who was a fifth overall pick only a few years ago.