2 young bigs Cavs should consider signing this summer to bolster bench

No. 2: Mo Bamba

Mo Bamba is another young big who should warrant consideration from the Cavaliers this offseason.

Bamba had some ups and downs with the Orlando Magic over the course of his near-five-year tenure with them following him being drafted by them sixth overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. With Orlando, Bamba averaged 7.7 points and 5.8 in 18.3 minutes per outing in 266 appearances.

Upon him being involved in a multi-team trade near this season’s deadline, Bamba played sparingly with the Los Angeles Lakers, making nine appearances post-deadline and playing 9.8 minutes per game then. He hasn’t played much with them in the playoffs to this point, and really only in garbage time, partially because of ankle soreness but that’s more so due to Anthony Davis playing so well.

So what might the Cavs foresee in Bamba, then?

For one, he could provide high level rim protection and some true rim deterrence in various lineups. Bamba is a 7-footer and has a monstrous 7-foot-10 wingspan.

That would add another shot blocker to the rotation for Cleveland, which is always valuable. Throughout his career, Bamba has had shot blocking splits of 1.3 blocks per outing and a block rate of 6.7 percent.

Granted, part of the reasoning for Bamba’s minutes-share being what it was with Orlando, aside from Wendell Carter Jr.’s emergence, has been the fouling concerns. Bamba has had 2.2 fouls per game, and maybe more notably, 4.3 fouls per-36 minutes. Despite that, his defensive impact on the interior and help on the glass (11.6 boards per-36 minutes) would be a welcomed add for reserve 5 minutes for the Wine and Gold.

Additionally, while Bamba isn’t the potential on-ball presence the aforementioned Reid is, he could be a capable roller for stretches and Bamba has made strides toward being a legit stretch 5 and/or pick-and-pop threat.

He did connect on 38.1 percent of his 4.0 deep attempts per game in the 2021-22 season, when he had a career-best 10.6 points per contest, and though the attempts were trimmed to 2.7 per game with Orlando this year, he did hit 39.8 percent of those in 40 appearances pre-trade. There’s going to be some inconsistencies with Bamba offensively, and he hasn’t played up to what many thought his potential could be.

Some of the reasoning for that has been the role and others involved, and he was a regular starter only once with Orlando last season, and he’s had injury issues, namely with back and ankle injuries being the culprits at times, and/or some other lower extremity ailments. Bamba being in action for 71 games last season was a career-high, and previously, he was involved in only 46, 62 and 47 games in his first three NBA seasons.

There’s some flaws/concerns with Bamba, who hasn’t been able to play much with the Lakers, and Cleveland, like all teams, has to be fully aware of his issues with injuries over his career.

Still, Bamba could prove to be a valuable rotational player to have as a three-and-D presence at backup 5, and he could feasibly fill in as a spot starter when needed, provided he’s healthy.

It’s not clear if Bamba’s $10.3 million contract for next season will be guaranteed, as an aside. The guarantee date for that deal is set to be on June 29, but it would appear to be more than likely that isn’t exercised from LA’s perspective, and in that scenario, Bamba would be an unrestricted free agent.

In that case, it’d seem feasible that the Cavaliers could possibly take a team-friendly flyer on Bamba, who will turn 25 Friday, for a season, or that he could maybe be added with a deal with the second year non-guaranteed. His extension with Orlando previously had the second year non-guaranteed, as was essentially touched on earlier.