Detroit Pistons: This center from the Magic may be best free-agent fit

The Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic swapped places in this NBA Draft Lottery, as last season the Magic were picking 5th and the Pistons had the number one pick overall.

This year that honor goes to the Magic, who are building a nice young team around Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony and Jalen Suggs.

The Magic also have two talented big men under contract for next season in Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter Jr. not to mention restricted free agent Mo Bamba.

This could end up being an issue, as the projected top-3 picks in the 2022 NBA Draft (Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero) are all big guys, which would leave the Magic with a crowded front court if they were to keep all of them.

This has led to speculation that restricted free agent Mo Bamba will be the one to hit the market since Isaac and Carter Jr. are locked into long-term deals.

The Magic would probably like to move Isaac since he hasn’t played in two seasons, but good luck with that. However, his contract is not fully guaranteed over the next three seasons, so Orlando could buy him out and keep Bamba, but that would be very expensive. It’s most likely that Bamba is the odd man out.

Not only would the Magic clear a roster spot for their #1 pick by letting Bamba walk, but they would also open up a big chunk of cap space by not making him the qualifying offer.

In other words, Mo Bamba is about to become a free agent. Should the Detroit Pistons have interest?

The Detroit Pistons and their cap space

The Pistons are one of the only teams with cap space, so we are going to hear them attached to all manner of players in free agency and trades, even the ones like Russell Westbrook that make no sense.

But the Pistons do have a well-documented need for depth at center, as they currently have just Isaiah Stewart and Kelly Olynyk under contract for next season.

Even if they re-signed Marvin Bagley III, the Pistons would need a third big, and they could go in a lot of directions.

The Detroit Pistons will almost certainly pursue Deandre Ayton, who is the top big man on the market, but if he doesn’t work out, they will look elsewhere to shore up their big man depth, and that includes the Orlando Magic and Mo Bamba.

Even if they could get Ayton, would they be better off investing less in the center position on a guy like Bamba?

Detroit Pistons: Deandre Ayton or Mo Bamba?

Mo Bamba recently turned 24-years-old and Deandre Ayton will be 24 in July, so these two are pretty much the same age.

Bamba played around 25 minutes per game for the terrible Magic while Ayton was playing over 29 minutes per game on the Phoenix Suns, who had the best record in the NBA this season before being ousted in the playoffs by Dallas.

Here are their stats for comparison:

• Deandre Ayton: 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, .7 blocks per game. Ayton also shot an impressive 63 percent from the floor and 36 percent from long range on a low number of attempts. Ayton is a good, not great defender who is effective in the pick and roll and improving offensively as a shooter.
• Mo Bamba: 10.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.7 blocks per game. Bamba shot just 48 percent from the floor but did hit 38.1 percent of his 3-point shots on four attempts per game, so he is a legit stretch five. Bamba also shoots 78 percent from the line, so is a big guy you can have on the floor late in games. Bamba has little inside game but did grab 2.1 offensive rebounds per game.

Ayton is clearly the superior offensive player (though Bamba might be the better fit, more on a that in a second) but Bamba is the better rim protector and 3-point shooter.

One huge difference between them is going to be salary, as Ayton will command a max deal from whoever gets him, while Bamba will probably get something more in the 4 years/$50 million range.

The Detroit Pistons can probably get Bamba for less than half of what it would take to get Ayton, which would leave them enough money to keep Marvin Bagley III and possibly make another move depending on what happens with Jerami Grant.

But is Bamba even a fit?

Mo Bamba’s fit on the Detroit Pistons

A few weeks ago I asked whether the Pistons should go for one big-name guy at center or take a center by committee approach.

Signing Bamba would be the latter, as he is on a similar (probably slightly higher) tier than Isaiah Stewart, but still not an elite center.

Bamba fills a couple of distinct needs for the Detroit Pistons. He is a shot blocker who would give them the rim protection that they currently lack, though Stewart contested the 6th most shots int the NBA this season. But Bamba is a legit shot blocker, who will give you nearly two a game in 25 minutes.

Bamba would also give the Pistons a boost of shooting, as Bamba would have been one of the best 3-point shooters on the Pistons this season, as only Cory Joseph, Isaiah Livers and Rodney McGruder hit a higher percentage and Bamba took more attempts than any of them.

It’s crazy to think that Mo Bamba would have been the Pistons’ best 3-point shooter this season, but he pretty much would have been.

A rim protecting center who averages nearly a double double and can shoot from long range is pretty much the perfect type of guy to put around Cade Cunningham.

And when you consider that Bamba is the same age as Ayton and will cost a fraction as much, it might be more logical to pursue Bamba (who they also have a MUCH better chance of actually landing) and invest the rest of those resources elsewhere.