Mo Bamba spent years playing backup center as Nikola Vucevic unexpectedly emerged into an All-Star.
When Vooch was somewhat unexpectedly traded, the Magic acquired another young center who Bamba will now have to compete with for playing time.
It was the newly-acquired Wendell Carter Jr. who was on the court during crunch time during the Magic’s 96-93 loss to the Lakers on Sunday, despite what had been a decent-enough performance from Bamba, at least in the eyes of some and also in the box score. Steve Clifford evaluates and prioritizes it differently, as he should, and that clearly will continue during what Bamba himself described as “more of a learning environment” within the organization following the trades.