To complete the three-team blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers and Anthony Davis to the Mavericks, the Jazz have officially waived center Mohamed Bamba, who was acquired on Saturday in a separate deal with the Clippers.
Utah announced the move in a press release.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), the Jazz needed to create an opening on their standard roster to acquire Jalen Hood-Schifino from the Lakers. Bamba was the odd man out.
A former lottery pick, Bamba was unable to carve out a consistent role in his four-plus seasons with Orlando, the team that selected him six overall back in 2018. The 26-year-old was traded to the Lakers in February 2023, but only played nine games for the club due to injury.
Bamba signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Philadelphia in the summer of 2023. Last offseason, he inked the same type of deal with the Clippers.
In 28 games with the Clips in 2024/25, Bamba averaged 4.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 block in 12.6 minutes per contest. He posted a shooting slash line of .466/.300/.680 while serving as a backup to Ivica Zubac.
Bamba was the most straightforward candidate to be cut by the Jazz due to the size of his contract. The other player Utah acquired from the Clippers was P.J. Tucker, who has yet to play this season but makes $11.54MM.
Tucker is a strong buyout candidate, but that could require him to give back a prorated portion of his salary — it also presumes the 39-year-old will have another opportunity lined up. There’s no rush for either side to reach that decision until after the February 6 trade deadline, especially since Tucker’s expiring contract could still be useful in certain trade scenarios.
Assuming he clears waivers, Bamba will be an unrestricted free agent in a couple days. He’ll be ineligible to re-sign with the Clippers.