The Los Angeles Lakers had several of their trade deadline additions make waves during the 2022-23 season, but unfortunately Mo Bamba was mostly unable to join in on the fun.
Bamba suffered a high-ankle sprain that cost him most of the second half of the season with the Lakers. After a few attempts to come back, Bamba was finally activated for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets though he did not log a minute.
It was a disappointing finish to the year for Bamba, who could’ve definitely helped Los Angeles and he reflected on the unfortunate situation when discussing his exit interview with Darvin Ham and Rob Pelinka.
“Very little talk about contract stuff and the business side of it because there’s still a lot to unfold between now and late June-July. But what was evident was just how important the summer was as far as just like stating on top of your body and doing what it takes to strengthen and condition your body to endure an 82-plus game season. I think circumstance here was unfortunate. You can do as much preventative work as possible in the offseason, but if you have somebody 240-plus pounds land on your ankle in a direction that’s not supposed to be in I think you’re gonna be hurt and you’re gonna miss time.
“But Rob and D Ham were real appreciative towards the work that I put in to try to put myself in a position to get back. High-ankle sprains suck, those three words it’s not words you want to hear in basketball especially for a big man. I really put my head down during that time and really put in the work to try and get back as fast as possible so I can provide for this team like how we all envisioned. But the body needs what the body needs. It needed time and I think I got into a mode where I was trying to will myself back to being healthy and that just doesn’t work. And then I told myself that I was going to try to get…we all came together, put our heads together and we all tried to get my ankle and my body to as close to even 90-80 percent as possible so I can provide again. It sucked being on the sideline watching your teammates go out there and battle when you know what you can bring to the table and provide. But that’s just the spirit of basketball, the spirit of the game but now I think it’s just time to just dive in on the summer and put really put yourself in a position to be as successful as possible.”
The Lakers do have a team option on Bamba’s contract that they’ll need to make a decision on, so it’ll be interesting to see if he gets another chance to prove he belongs on the team for next season.
Mo Bamab details what he needs to work on in summer
The big man has a crucial summer ahead of him, but it sounds like he already has a good idea on what he’ll need to work on. “I think the summer is real simple for me especially when you play with generational talent such as LeBron, AD and company. I think it’s simple for me. I think it’s to just work on my body as much as possible to where it’s like a tank. Cardio and conditioning and strengthening and just putting your body through the right and the smart amount of stress in the offseason really…I think it has really good carryover to the 82-plus game season that we look forward to next year.
“But as far as skill work, there’s always room for improvement. As far as playing with your back to the basket and I think a lot of it is just like the IQ of it. The IQ of the game, the gamesmanship within the game. It’s just taking a deep dive and really watching yourself on film and just learning like, ‘All right, these are the spots that I need to get to and these are the moves that I need to add so I can provide for the team as far as offensively.’
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