6. Philadelphia’s Mo Bamba reclamation project is likely over
Signed to a minimum deal last summer, Mo Bamba didn’t exactly have lofty expectations dawning over him when he first landed in Philadelphia. However, his perceived ceiling was simply too intriguing to relegate him into an afterthought.
Unfortunately for the young center, an afterthought is what he turned into in his first season with the 76ers. Sans the stretch where Joel Embiid’s injury forced the coaching staff to throw him into the fire, he was a negligible part of the roster, and his inconsistencies on defense and rebounding, as well as his unchanged proneness to foul trouble, made it difficult to give him a consistent role.
Bank on him signing elsewhere this summer. With the 76ers probably eyeing a more ambitious option to back up Embiid and perhaps incentivize them into giving the reigning MVP a more modest load, there is no room for a reclamation project anymore. Bamba’s journey toward consistent minutes in the NBA foothold will have to come in another city.