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Center · 2025–26

Mo Bamba

Born in Harlem to parents who emigrated from the Ivory Coast, Bamba turned a record 7-foot-10 wingspan into a ticket from Westtown School to Texas, where his shot-blocking made him the sixth pick of the 2018 draft. Five seasons in Orlando brought a career-high 32 points on seven three-pointers in 2022, followed by a trade to the Lakers, before he landed with the Jazz in 2023.

His grandparents came from present-day Mali, and older brother Sidiki played college ball at Arizona and Providence. Bamba took up basketball at six, drawn in by the game's popularity in his neighborhood — a Harlem kid who grew into one of the longest players the combine ever measured.

HOW HE CAME & WENTHe was traded to Utah in 2025 and waived the next day, signed again in September and was cut after camp, then came back on a 10-day contract on March 8, 2026 — and returned once more that July on a two-year deal.

Full name
Mohamed Fakaba Bamba
Utah Jazz tenure
2025–26
Position
Center
Born
1998, New York City
Weight
225 lb (102 kg)
College
Texas
Drafted
2018, 1st round (No. 6), Orlando
Signatures in the archive
  • 2025 Topps Inception Basketball Red /75
  • 2018-19 Panini Revolution #RA-MBB Rookie Autographs

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

MO BAMBA · 2025–26 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
2025–26UTA219.05.010.00.50.01.0.556
JAZZ TOTAL1 SEASON219.05.010.00.50.01.0.556

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

MO BAMBA · 6 NOTES
  • At a pre-draft workout he reportedly ran the three-quarter-court sprint faster than most of the NBA, including MVP Russell Westbrook.
  • He refused to work out for the Memphis Grizzlies before the 2018 draft and told them not to pick him.
  • Rapper Sheck Wes, a friend from the Harlem blocks where both grew up, named his 2018 hit single after him.
  • The two of them went back to Harlem Link Charter School together in 2018 and handed out 150 backpacks to students who needed them.
  • As a teenager he played midnight pickup games at the Kingdome playground across the street from home, runs that sometimes lasted until three in the morning.
  • As a lanky high school sophomore he held only six scholarship offers, among them Yale, Rice and James Madison.