Should Thunder Take Flier On Trade With Magic For Mo Bamba?

Mo Bamba, Orlando Magic, NBA
NBA Analysis Network

The Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference standings—achieving what the team had intended to do during the 2021-22 NBA season.

After adding Josh Giddey to pair with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder find themselves still in the midst of a rebuilding process.

Not every aspect of said process has to involve losing as many games as possible while stacking up on draft assets.

One option for the Thunder could be to take calculated risks in the trade market. Considering the team has to add more salary to reach the salary cap floor, there is all the more reason to do so.

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According to Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley, the Oklahoma City Thunder make sense as a potential trade destination for Mo Bamba given that while the team is focused on adding more draft picks, there is a need to add more players with higher upside.

Is is possible for a long-term rebuilder to have too many picks? In a word: Nope. Whatever the Oklahoma City Thudner do this trade season—at the least, shop Derrick Favors hard and shoulder bloated contracts to extract assets and reach the salary floor—it shouldn’t deviate from Sam Presti’s plans of snatching up picks like they’re trendy NFTs.

Beyond the picks, though, the Thunder should be on the hunt for young players with upside. They have the rotation room to give them the freedom to grow, plus there are zero pressure for winning this season

Mo Bamba has just never managed to carve out a substantial role for himself with the Orlando Magic. Playing beyond Nikola Vucevic and now Wendell Carter Jr. along with suffering no shortage of various injuries has been truly limiting to his potential.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder would be able to provide him with no shortage of opportunities to play through mistakes as he develops all while benefiting from being a pick-and-roll partner with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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