Free agent center Mo Bamba agrees to one-year deal with Philadelphia 76ers

Free agent center Mo Bamba has found a new home. The former Texas star agreed to a one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, his agents Mark Bartelstein and Greer Love of Priority Sports told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday. This season, Bamba pumped in 7.3 points per game and grabbed 4.6 rebounds per game for the Orlando Magic. He also had a brief stint this year with the LA Lakers. Bamba played five seasons total with the Magic and only suited up for nine games with the Lakers in the 2022-2023 campaign.

His best year with Orlando came in 2021-2022, when he pumped in 10.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. For his career thus far, the 7-footer has averaged 6.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 48.5 percent from the field.

He’s blessed with a 7-foot, 10-inch wingspan, which caught the attention of several NBA scouts leading up to the 2018 NBA Draft.

Mo Bamba’s college career

A former five-star prospect coming out of high school, Bamba was pursued by the likes of Kentucky, Michigan, Duke, and Texas. In the 2017 McDonald’s All-American Game, he pumped in 17 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Among other awards, he earned a spot on the 2017 Naismith Trophy High School All-American first team. Not only that, but he was also one of five finalists for the Naismith National High School Player of the Year. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2017 cycle, he was rated as the No. 4 overall player in America and the No. 2 overall power forward in the country.

In international competition, he teamed up with fellow Texas freshman Matt Coleman and sophomore James Banks III to lead Team USA to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Valdiva, Chile.

He only played one year of college basketball with the Texas Longhorns, but he didn’t disappoint. He averaged 12.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game. At the end of the regular season, he was named to the Big-12 All-Newcomer team and All-Defensive team.

The 7-footer also helped guide the ‘Horns to a 2018 NCAA Tournament appearance. Texas ultimately lost in the first round to 7th-seeded Nevada 87-83.

The former McDonald’s All-American erupted for 25 points and 15 rebounds in an 85-72 win over Ole Miss on January 27, 2018.

Bamba was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic.