Does this trade make sense for both Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic?
A trade between the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets involving Mo Bamba could absolutely happen, but the Rockets would need to send out about $4.45M in total salaries, which can make things difficult. They are not going to trade Jae’Sean Tate, Kenyon Martin Jr., Kevin Porter Jr., or any of their new rookies, which leaves Danuel House and some veterans as potential trade options.
House is a likely trade candidate, but if he is going to be in a deal for Houston, they would still need to include another contract since they would be taking back Bamba’s $7.5M salary for this upcoming year.
Getting another team involved who would want D.J. Augustin would make the most sense, especially since his contract basically aligns with that of Mo Bamba at $7M for the 2021-22 season.
Trading Mo Bamba is not something the Orlando Magic are eager to do, but they could very well look to move him around midseason at the trade deadline. He is in the final year of his rookie contract and has never really lived up to the hype of being the 6th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
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Not to mention, the Magic have Wendell Carter Jr., Robin Lopez, and Jonathan Isaac will return this season from injury, so he could see some time at the center position in smaller lineups that are more focused on Orlando’s backcourt talents.
In this deal, the Magic would be taking on Dwight Powell’s contract, which may actually work out in their favor since they know what they would be getting with Powell and would be able to suburb his contract into their $17.1M TPE they have from when the Magic traded Evan Fournier to the Boston Celtics last season.
Powell is owed roughly $22M over the next two seasons, but he would provide them stability in the frontcourt with Carter Jr. being in the final year of his deal.
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Orlando also gets two second-round picks, some added draft compensation to make up for losing Bamba. For Houston, Mo Bamba would provide them with a solid backup big man behind Christian Wood and a stretch center that they could possibly invest in for the future.
The Rockets did draft Alperen Sengun in the first round of the draft, but having another versatile big man with Bamba’s length could absolutely help them moving forward.
The Rockets would also be able to dump D.J. Augustin’s contract, which is something they will likely look to do this season since he is not really needed on this roster with all of the young talent. This trade seems to make sense for both the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic, that is assuming that Orlando looks to move Bamba at some point.
