Minnesota Timberwolves: Mo Bamba would be a great KAT compliment

The Minnesota Timberwolves would be an interesting landing spot for the Magic’s 2018 first-round pick.

The Minnesota Timberwolves still need a rim protecting presence on their team. With Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid both being more offensive-minded bigs, finding a player that can raise the floor of a team’s defense would drastically improve that end of the floor for a team that is already good offensively.

Mohamed Bamba, the Orlando Magic’s first round pick in 2018, has yet to live up to expectations, but does show a tremendous amount of promise when e does see the floor.

Bamba, 22 years old, is going to be entering the third year of his contract, and currently gets less than fifteen minutes per game for a Magic team that had a loaded frontcourt with Jonathan Isaac, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, and Al-Farouq Aminu. Bamba, the odd man out, could receive even less minutes after 2019 first-round pick Chuma Okeke returns from his injury.

Regardless of his situation, Bamba has shown a lot of promise as a modern-day center. Over the course of his two-year-long career, he is averaging 5.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 1.4 blocks (only two fouls per game).

In the bubble, Bamba’s minutes have gone to essentially zero. He played in the Magic’s first two games, but only for four and six minutes in those two games respectively. It seems as though Bamba’s future in Orlando may be coming to a close, and he would be a pretty nice fit (along with obtaining more minutes than he currently receives) for the Magic.

The Minnesota Timberwolves need either a forward or big that can play alongside Towns. The two skills most preferred in such a player would be a consistent outside-shot as well as the ability to protect the paint. Bamba brings both of those things. This past season, albeit in limited minutes, he shot roughly 35-percent from three on almost 40-percent of his shots coming from the three-point line.

Extrapolated on a per-36-minutes basis, Bamba averaged 14 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks, and four fouls per game. While efficiency and total blocks may be effected by volume, Bamba does enough well enough to still warrant expanding his role. For the Timberwolves, he should not cost much to obtain, either.

For a center only getting about 15 minutes per game while not being in the future plans for the Magic (as seen with Vucevic getting a four-year contract extension last offseason), this would be an interesting offer for Gersson Rosas to possibly send to Orlando:

Bringing in Mo Bamba would add another rotational big that could almost certainly play next to Towns as both a floor spacer and rim protector – and you would not need Bamba to be anything more than that.

The Minnesota Timberwolves need to hit on their draft picks, and if they do not feel comfortable selecting anyone with the Nets’ pick in the middle of the first round, sending an offer like such could benefit both parties, especially if the Magic do not see Bamba as their long-term center. He would fit really well in Minnesota.