Mo

Bamba

Bamba’s deal would have been guaranteed if he was on the roster beyond January 6, so the team’s decision to waive him isn’t entirely surprising. He can rejoin Toronto on a 10-day deal, but even if he returns, Bamba won’t see enough run to be worth rostering in most fantasy leagues.

Murray-Boyles sat out Sunday, and his potential absence on the second leg of Toronto’s back-to-back set could allow Sandro Mamukelashvili to slide into the starting five. Newly signed Mo Bamba could earn meaningful minutes off the bench in his Toronto debut if Murray-Boyles is forced to sit this one out.

With Jakob Poeltl sidelined by a back injury, the Raptors needed additional frontcourt depth. Enter Bamba, with the former lottery pick agreeing to a one-year deal. Waived just before the start of the regular season by the Jazz, the 7-footer appeared in 32 games last season for the Clippers and Pelicans. Unless you’re competing in a 30-team league, there’s no need to consider adding Bamba in the short term.

Bamba, the sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, faced long odds to make the Jazz roster in training camp. Having begun his NBA career with the Magic, the 7-footer has since played for the 76ers, Lakers, Clippers and Pelicans. Bamba’s exit from Utah will not impact fantasy basketball.

Bamba, who last played on a 10-day contract for the Pelicans, will likely be signing a non-guaranteed deal with Utah. It would be surprising if he ended up making the final roster, but if he does, he will simply be frontcourt depth behind Walker Kessler, Kyle Filipowski and Jusuf Nurkic.

Bamba signed a 10-day deal with the Pelicans on Monday and was thrust into the rotation one day later. It just so happens that his first matchup was against the team that he started the season with that also sent him to Utah, who subsequently waived him, at the trade deadline. Bamba logged 15 minutes off the bench and most of his contribution to the game come on the glass as he missed both of his shot attempts, which were both from beyond the arc. Bamba will only have a chance to provide fantasy value if Yves Missi or Karlo Matkovic were to miss time.

Utah acquired Bamba, P.J. Tucker and a second-round pick in exchange for Patty Mills and Drew Eubanks on Saturday, but they clearly made the deal to get the extra draft selection. Bamba will be free to sign with a new team, but it is unlikely that he finds an organization that wants to play him enough to impact fantasy basketball.

Bamba appeared in 28 games for the Clippers this season, averaging 4.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 12.6 minutes. Between Bamba, Kai Jones, and Kobe Brown, the Clippers needed to upgrade the center position behind starter Ivica Zubac, and adding Eubanks to the roster helps in that regard. As for Bamba’s prospects in Utah, Walker Kessler has a firm grip in the starting spot there, and the Jazz will also need to get Kyle Filipowski more minutes as the season wears down. There’s no need to add Bamba in fantasy leagues.

Bamba played 15 minutes in this game, which is a similar workload to what he saw as a starter over each of the last two games. However, he had some streaming upside as a starter, but the odds of anyone starting him with Ivica Zubac back were incredibly low. Of course, this ended up being arguably his best game of the season. He set new season-highs for points, blocks and 3-pointers in the win, though this isn’t enough to justify him as a streaming option. He played well in this game, but he shouldn’t be rostered in standard leagues.

Zubac will be back in the lineup after a two-game absence, which means that Mo Bamba will be pushed out of the starting lineup. He didn’t play many minutes as the starting center, but he’ll lose the little streaming value that he held.