TORONTO \u2014 Mo Bamba knows he fits in well in the Toronto Raptors\u2019 locker room. Now he just has to find his place with them on the court. <\/p>\n
The seven-foot centre signed with Toronto on Sunday and made his Raptors debut the next night, playing four minutes in a 107-106 win over the Orlando Magic. <\/p>\n
Bamba was still finding his footing less than 24 hours into joining his sixth NBA team \u2014 his luggage was lost on his way to Toronto \u2014 but said getting acclimated was more about learning the Raptors\u2019 lingo than learning his teammates\u2019 names.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough a lot of teams do a lot of the same stuff, every team has their own terminology,\u201d said Bamba, sitting in front of his new locker at Scotiabank Arena. \u201cSo a down here might be an ice somewhere else, or, you know, a left call on a pick and roll is happening here might be a weak call somewhere else. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone runs the same plays, typically, but it\u2019s all different words. But when you\u2019ve been blessed to be around the league for as long as I have, you pick up on these things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bamba was taken sixth overall by Orlando at the 2018 NBA draft but didn\u2019t catch on with the Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Clippers and New Orleans Pelicans over seven seasons. He\u2019s averaged 6.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 16.8 minutes in 364 NBA games (101 starts).<\/p>\n
He played 14 games for the Salt Lake City Stars, the G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz, this season and was solid in averaging 16.5 points, 12.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 2.9 blocks and 28.7 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always just shows you how hard it is to make it in this sport,\u201d said Bamba on his time in the G-League. \u201cHow dialled in you need to be, and how talented these 450 guys (in the NBA) are.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s also a sense of watching and knowing that I belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no doubt in Bamba\u2019s mind, however, that he belongs in a Raptors locker-room filled with familiar faces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know everybody on the team,\u201d said Bamba, gesturing around the room. \u201cRJ (Barrett) reminded me that he stayed at my house when he was in college in Orlando. Scottie (Barnes), I\u2019ve known for a while. I know all of these guys <\/p>\n
\u201cI played against (Immanuel Quickley) when we were seventh grade. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those teammates Bamba didn\u2019t know before this year knew of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve just got to help Mo a little bit with the ins and outs of the defence and the offence,\u201d said backup guard Jamal Shead. \u201cHis skill set and what he brings and I think he could really help us once his motor gets going. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen it firsthand. He went to (the University of Texas) and I\u2019m an Austin kid, so I\u2019ve seen Mo firsthand and what he can accomplish and what he can do. I\u2019m excited to play with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Raptors have a pressing need for Bamba\u2019s size and skills as starting centre Jakob Poeltl will be out for at least a week with a sore lower back. Bamba will share time at the five spot with Sandro Mamukelashvili, rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, and Scottie Barnes playing out of his ideal role as a swingman.<\/p>\n
Murray-Boyles said that Bamba\u2019s ability to block shots will be a \u201ctremendous\u201d asset. Bamba has average 1.3 blocks per game over his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knows that we needed that,\u201d said Murray-Boyles. \u201cWe\u2019ve been running a lot of small ball five, especially with Jak being out, it has been just me, Sandro and Scott.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo definitely having somebody else to protect the paint, get more rebounds, something that we really need.\u201d<\/p>\n
It looked like the Raptors\u2019 patchwork core of centres would be sorely tested on Wednesday night, when the Denver Nuggets come to Toronto. But Nuggets star centre Nikola Jokic hyperextended his left knee on Monday in a 147-123 loss to the Miami Heat. The team said Tuesday that the three-time MVP will be re-evaluated in four weeks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an obvious blow to the already short-handed Nuggets \u2014 but is not a season-ending injury nor one that would require surgical repair. If Jokic misses a month, that means he would be sidelined for about 16 games but could be playing again before February\u2019s NBA All-Star Game.<\/p>\n
\u2014 With files from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2025.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Mo Bamba knows he fits in well in the Toronto Raptors\u2019 locker room. Now he just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-378181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}