Our exit interview series continues with another former Clippers player, backup center Mo Bamba.

Basic Information

Height: 7’0

Weight: 231 pounds

Position: Center

Age: 27

Years in NBA: 7

Key Regular Season Stats (for Clippers): 4.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.3 steals, and 1.0 blocks in 12.6 minutes per game across 28 games played (2 starts) on 46.6/30.0/68.0 (1.8 3PA and 0.9 FTA) shooting splits (56.1 True Shooting)

Expectations

Mo Bamba was signed to the Clippers on a veteran minimum to be their backup center. In many ways, it was one of the most straightforward projected roles on the team, with only minimal competition (two-way Kai Jones) and a clear path to regular minutes.

On the court, Mo was expected to provide at least some spacing with his three-point shoot, rim protection on defense, and enough basic competence elsewhere to stick on the court. After years of backup center play that ranged from “awful” (Moses Brown) to “ok but underwhelming” (Mason Plumlee), the hope for Bamba was that he would be a stable if uninspiring presence in the Clippers’ second unit. I was skeptical about this, having followed fans of teams that Bamba had played for and seeing their constant discussions of his inadequacies, but thought he would probably be ok.

Reality

Bamba was not “awful”, per se, but also was not good. He met the exact bare minimum of expectations, which is that he made three-pointers and blocked shots at decent rates, but really provided nothing else. He was not an effective rebounder, he couldn’t finish at the rim, and really was unable to do much on either end of the court that did not involve blocking shots or taking threes.

Mo missed the first 13 games of the season due to injury, during which Clippers’ fans were subjected to the Kai Jones experience. Therefore, his return was much ballyhooed, with fans positively foaming at the mouth for Mo to make his Clippers’ debut. Funnily enough, his first game with the Clippers also may have been his best, as he scored 9 points and collected 8 rebounds in just over 15 minutes in a win over the Jazz. Even though he missed his threes, the difference in basketball awareness and know-how between Mo Kai seemed obvious.

After that though, things went downhill. While rarely ever a true negative in the terms of making boneheaded plays, ala Kai, there were just way too many games when it was not noticeable that Mo was out there outside of his taking the odd three-pointer. After a few weeks, Mo already started to get phased out in favor of small-ball, and was basically out of the rotation by late January. It was expected that the Clippers would try to make a deal to upgrade on Mo for the backup center spot at the deadline, especially with the team playing above expectations and gearing up for a playoff run.

Then, on February 1, Mo was traded to the Utah Jazz (along with problem child PJ Tucker) for Drew Eubanks, Patty Mills, and a second round pick swap in 2030. The Jazz promptly waived Mo, and his time with the Clippers came to an end.

Future with Clippers

Mo signed a 10-day contract with the Pelicans after the Jazz waived him, but didn’t play much and is not currently signed to an NBA contract. It’s possible he sticks around the league on vet minimums and 10-day signings, but his days as an NBA rotation player seem over. Thus, it’s rather unlikely that he returns to the Clippers, even if he is a good theoretical vibes guy for the end of the bench. I wish Mo well, but the most likely career path for him is probably overseas, not in the NBA.

2025 Clippers Exit Interviews: Mo Bamba
Robert Flom

The Clippers have made a trade, sending PJ Tucker, Mo Bamba, a 2030 2nd round pick, and cash to the Utah Jazz for Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills.

Tucker, who was on the books for $11.54M, has not played for the Clippers this season and has been “away from the team” since the start of the year. Bamba was signed in the offseason to be the Clippers’ backup center, but has been a major disappointment, averaging 4.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 12.6 minutes per game across 28 games, but with eye test and impact far worse than those seemingly decent numbers. Bamba had clearly lost the trust of head coach Ty Lue, who has increasingly gone to small-ball lineups instead of playing Mo.

Eubanks was signed by the Jazz to a two year, $10M deal this past offseason (his deal is non-guaranteed next year) and has been their primary backup center. In 37 games played, Eubanks has averaged 5.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.9 blocks in 15.4 minutes per game. Both the regular stats and advanced metrics have Eubanks being a similar level of player to Mo (which is not great) but the Clippers will roll the dice on Eubanks being better. Prior to the Jazz, Eubanks played for the Spurs for 3.5 years, the Blazers for 1.5 years, and the Suns for a year, with his best full season probably being 2023 with the Blazers.

Mills is one of the most tenured and respected veterans in the entire NBA, a beloved veteran who won a championship with Kawhi Leonard on the Spurs in 2014. However, at age 36, he’s no longer a rotation caliber player. He’s barely played for the Jazz, and when he has, he’s been awful, shooting just 34.2% from the field and 29.8% from three. Any value he has at this point is purely as a locker room guy (which is still meaningful to some extent). Law Murray has reported Mills will stay with the Clippers for now, but that could change depending on the buyout market.

This trade, however, was not done for the roster players coming back, even if the Clippers might hope Eubanks is an upgrade over Bamba. Instead, this was done for tax and cap flexibility purposes. Eubanks makes over $6M less than Tucker, dropping the Clippers below the luxury tax and giving them real flexibility under the first apron. They also get $6.5M and $2.1M trade exceptions, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

The long and short of this means the Clippers will now be a major player in the buyout market. By remaining under the apron, they can now sign any buyout player, regardless of how large their previous salary was. They also have wiggle room to take on additional salary (in a Bones Hyland trade, probably) if they need to for another deal. The Clippers essentially paid a second round pick and some cash to get tax savings and bolster their roster flexibility entering the final trade deadline and buyout market. The Clippers do also still have the remainder of the non-tax MLE that they mostly spent on Derrick Jones Jr. to use as an enticing option for buyout guys to give them some extra salary above the minimum.

At the end of the day, this is about as unexciting of a deal as you can find in the NBA that involves actual players (the Suns trade with the Jazz entirely for picks probably takes the cake for lamest trade in NBA history). However, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad one. The Clippers did move off a real asset (their 2030 second) but the gains in flexibility are probably worth it. That’s not even counting any gains to locker room presence from Mills (if he sticks with the team) and a shot on Eubanks as an improvement at backup center over Bamba. Eubanks’ salary for next year is non-guaranteed, meaning that if he doesn’t work out, the Clippers can easily trade him this offseason or simply waive him.

Whether this trade has any real impact will probably be determined by the rest of the trade deadline and whether the Clippers get anyone in the buyout market, but it’s a decent move with some upside and minimal downside. Let’s see what the Clippers do next.

Clippers Trade PJ Tucker & Mo Bamba for Drew Eubanks and Patty Mills
Robert Flom

Our player preview series for the 2025 Clippers continues with Mo Bamba, the Clippers’ new backup center.

Basic Information

Height: 7’0

Weight: 231 pounds

Position: Center

Age: 26

Years in NBA: 6

Key Stats: 4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.4 steals and 1.1 blocked shots in 13.0 minutes per game across 57 games played (17 starts) on 49/39.1/68 shooting splits.

Contract Status: One-year contract with the Clippers worth a little over $2 million.

Expectations

With the departure of Mason Plumlee in free agency, the Clippers settled on Mo Bamba as their apparent backup center. Ty Lue does have a penchant for playing small, but size still matters in this league and the team needs someone who can spell Ivica Zubac during games.

Despite being a lottery pick, Bamba has had an underwhelming NBA career to this point. He’s been a decent backup center, but not exactly what you would expect for someone selected with the No. 6 overall pick. But he gets the job done for the most part. You don’t usually expect too much from a backup big man and Clippers fans should keep their expectations low.

Strengths

One of Bamba’s biggest strengths is that he’s a legitimate stretch-five. Since he’s been in the NBA he’s been a good three-point shooter. His ability to space the floor should make for some interesting lineups this season. He holds a career average of 36.1 percent shooting from three-point range, and he shot 39.1 percent last season in Philadelphia.

He’s also a good rebounder, better than any of the Clippers’ recent backup centers. That’s definitely a plus for a team that’s struggled on the glass in recent seasons.

Bamba is also a fairly decent shot-blocker. Opposing teams do need to be aware of him when they attack the paint.

Weaknesses

Consistency is probably one of the biggest issues with Bamba. It’s probably been a key reason as to why his career never really took off. Although he’s still relatively young, he’s past the point where you can say he still has another level to reach. This is as good as it gets.

Although Bamba is a good shot-blocker, he doesn’t bring all that much in terms of on ball, man-to-man defense, or when it comes to defending the pick and roll.

He’s also limited offensively. While he’s shot a decent percentage from three-point range, his overall shooting percentage isn’t the type of efficiency you might expect from a big man.

Summary

Bamba’s status for opening night is actually in question as he’s been out for preseason while dealing with knee soreness. In the meantime, Kai Jones has used that opportunity to make a case to grab the Clippers’ final two-way contract spot and actually play meaningful minutes.

Bamba is essentially a stop gap for this season and does not feature into the Clippers’ long term plans. Given Lue’s affinity for small-ball, and Bamba’s injury status, it actually wouldn’t be surprising to see Bamba playing a limited role this season.

Clippers 2024-25 Player Preview: Mo Bamba
David Yapkowitz

Lawrence Frank and the Clippers continue to make moves, with the most recent being the news they will sign veteran center Mo Bamba to a minimum deal.

Mo is a six-year player who was taken with the 6th overall pick by Orlando back in 2018. He played for 4.5 years in Orlando followed by a quick stint for the Lakers and then for the Sixers last year. For his career, he has averages of 7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 17.2 minutes per game. Last season, those numbers were 4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in 13 minutes per game for a very good Sixers team. Not bad.

Let’s talk about the good stuff. Mo Bamba can shoot threes. The only year he took them with any volume was 2022 (4 per game), but he has averaged 2.3 attempts per game for his career on 36.3%. That’s a higher volume than Theis. Now, does that add real spacing? Seems unlikely. But it can’t hurt.

While Mo Bamba is not exactly Moses Malone, he’s also a better rebounder than Mason Plumlee or Daniel Theis. For his career, Bamba has a defensive rebounding% of 25% and a total rebound rate of 17.3%. Contrast that with Plumlee at 23.2% and 16.7%, and Theis at 18.5% and 13.6%. He will help the Clippers on the glass at least a bit.

Finally, Bamba is a better rim protector than Plumlee or Theis. He blocks more shots, is taller than Theis, and more athletic than either of the Clippers’ backups last year. He will bring a different dimension there.

Now for the bad. Bamba is not a particularly good basketball player in terms of overall impact. Metric stats think he’s ok on defense and pretty bad on offense. He’s an inefficient scorer, is frequently out of position, and is not a good passer. Despite overall skills and talent, teams have mostly been better with him off the court. In terms of who is better on an NBA court in 2024, I think Theis is.

However, Plumlee is 34. Theis is 32. Bamba is just 26, and while I don’t think he has much upside anymore, he is obviously not likely to fall off a cliff like Plumlee or Theis might. For a veteran minimum deal, he’s a fine signing, though I hope the Clippers bring in someone else with some experience as an alternative.

Clippers Sign Mo Bamba to Vet Minimum
Robert Flom