The 2023 NBA Draft has come and gone and teams will now begin their focus on free agency, which is slated to begin next week.
The Los Angeles Lakers added two young prospects in Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis who look like the ideal fits for the roster, but the front office still has more work to do to build it into a championship contender. Right before free agency starts, Los Angeles has decisions to make on some of its players like Mo Bamba, who has a non-guaranteed contract for the 2023-24 season.
There were rumors that Bamba and possibly Malik Beasley would’ve been packaged together with the No. 17 pick in order to find a starting-caliber rotation player, but that obviously didn’t come to pass. With the center still on the roster post-draft, it signaled to some that the Lakers were perhaps keen on keeping him around next season.
However, Bamba could still find his way out of Los Angeles as he reportedly wants to head east to play for the Chicago Bulls according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Suns Times, via Daniel Greenberg of Chicago Sports Updates:
Mo Bamba is a name to keep an eye on for the Chicago Bulls.
Bamba wants to play for the Bulls.
(Via @JCowleyHoops on @670TheScore)
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) June 23, 2023
With Nikola Vucevic an unrestricted free agent, there could be more of a role on the Bulls for Bamba, who didn’t get much of a chance to play with the Lakers due to a high-ankle sprain he suffered. Los Angeles has until June 29 to guarantee Bamba’s contract for next season at around $10.5 million, and if they do that then more likely than not he is traded away.
Getting Bamba to Chicago wouldn’t be a huge obstacle as they could trade him and some future draft compensation for someone like Alex Caruso and salary filler. However, it remains to be seen what the Bulls will want to do as they’ve got win-now pieces in DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine still on their team.
The purple and gold have several avenues toward improving their roster, and it will be interesting to see how they go about doing that in the coming weeks.
Mo Bamba discusses severity of high-ankle sprain
Bamba was a promising pickup at the trade deadline as the Lakers were in sore need of another true big man behind Anthony Davis. However, a high-ankle sprain erased any opportunity for Bamba to establish himself in the rotation.
The center discussed the severity of the injury and how hard he worked to make himself available.
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