Lakers: How New Addition Mo Bamba Fits For Los Angeles
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Your Los Angeles Lakers made several big and small trades in the days leading up to last week's NBA trade deadline, all of which seemed designed to abet LA's stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis this year, while still giving the Los Angeles front office some flexibility in the future. One of the most intriguing new additions is former lottery selection Mo Bamba, a floor-spacing, rim-protecting 3-and-D center who will help protect the paint for LA.
Playing in his first Lakers game Wednesday, a 120-102 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Bamba scored just four points, pulled down six rebounds, blocked three shots, and dished out one assist. He missed all five of his attempts from downtown. It was just one game, and he is still naturally finding his footing on this reinvigorated LA franchise.
Doug McKain, host of our YouTube channel Lakers 248, reflected on the deal.
"So my first big takeaway is we can all go back to hating Patrick Beverley once again," McKain said. "No, I'm just playing, but Pat Bev did not work out in LA. He did not provide the defense that we all hoped he would, the three-point shooting we all hoped he would. But he is gone, and you replace him with a much younger player in Mo Bamba, who is still just 24 years old, who was the No. 6 pick out of Texas back in 2018, and fills a need for this team."
"He still has a lot of skills that can help this Lakers team," McKain continued. "The first being elite rim protection. He's one of the best rim protectors in the league. He stands at seven foot tall, a ridiculous 7'10" wing span."
"The next thing is he can space the floor," McKain noted. "He has shown the ability to knock down shots from beyond the arc. If you look at his numbers, he ranks in the 89th percentile in bigs in three-point shooting, and in the 97th percentile in non-corner three-point frequency.... He's going to open up some space and some lanes from LeBron James, he's going to allow Anthony Davis to operate down low."
"And also when you consider the flurry of moves they made yesterday, the Lakers will reduce their luxury tax penalty from $45 million to $17.4 million by swapping Pat Bev for Mo Bamba, so that's another plus. They also generated a $2.7 million trade exception [from the deal]," McKain added.
"I think this is a great trade for the Lakers, I really like this move, especially when you consider that Patrick Beverley is on the way out," McKain said. "Thomas Bryant, he was a guy that had success, but defensively he just wasn't able to get it done, wasn't a great fit alongside Anthony Davis."
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