Magic center clear of serious effects from COVID-19
Orlando Magic center Mo Bamba has shown no signs of any serious health issues after contracting COVID-19, but he is still recovering from his recent bout with the virus.
President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said Monday that doctors have not found any evidence of significant problems for Bamba in the wake of his COVID-19 contraction in June.
Bamba left the NBA campus at Walt Disney World for comprehensive postcoronavirus evaluation. He missed the team’s final seeding game and the firstround playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Weltman said Bamba did experience some complications but is expected to make a full recovery.
“The doctors have ruled out anything serious but it will take some time to clear his system. That’ll probably be measured in months not weeks,” Weltman said. “That’s really something that is not going to be a long-term issue. He’s going to have a complete recovery, but we’ll probably have to monitor his workload as we get through that, that’s all.”
When Bamba and the Magic first en
tered the NBA bubble, he said he was pleased to have more power and agility after adding 20 pounds to his 7-foot-frame during the coronavirus shutdown.
But Bamba’s acclimation back to regular-season conditions stalled and the Magic’s human performance staff decided it was best for him to leave the bubble for a comprehensive post-coronavirus evaluation. Bamba had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 11.
“Mo had really done a good job managing the hiatus. He had added weight; he had stayed in good condition,” Weltman said. “He entered our facility with a really good kind of baseline fitness level. Then he contracted COVID.
“Mo, even in the bubble, showed some flashes, but he was never able to turn the corner with his conditioning.”
Bamba made progress during scrimmage play as his minutes increased over the team’s three games. His
best effort came in the second game, when he posted nine points and six rebounds in just 8 minutes and 10 seconds against the Lakers.
He then played11minutes and 21 seconds in the scrimmage finale against the Nuggets, scoring three points and grabbing three rebounds.
Bamba’s conditioning then began to waver. He logged just 11 minutes during the restart as he played in only two of the team’s eight seeding games, though he had left the bubble before the Magic played their finale against the Pelicans.
It was another disappointing and frustrating end to the season for Bamba. During his rookie campaign, he missed the final 30 regular-season games and ensuing playoff series against Toronto with a stress fracture in his right leg he sustained in late January.
Bamba began this season with a clean bill of health but soon reached a point where his minutes were restricted and he was only
playing one game of a backto-back set as the Magic sought to manage his leg injury carefully.
Before the season was suspended March 11 amid the coronavirus pandemic, Bamba was averaging 5.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game in 14.5 minutes per game.
Despite ranking 10th on the team in minutes played, Bamba was fourth in defensive rebounds and third in offensive rebounds. He also ranked fourth in 3-point percentage among the Magic players with at least 100 attempts and made five 3s in a 116-104 win over the Cavaliers on Nov. 27.
Weltman acknowledged the bout with COVID marks another unfortunate setback for Bamba and missing the chance to work out during the offseason will put the second-year center further behind in his development. Still, Weltman said Bamba already has shown resiliency and expects more of the same from the 22-year-old.
“You just can’t get anything more valuable to young players than off
season time, and Mo just hasn’t had that. He didn’t have it last year. He’s now going to have to wait to start ramping back up this time,” Weltman said. “I don’t know if it’s a concern. It just is what it is. Mo’s been really dealt kind of a bad hand so far, but the great thing about Mo is that he keeps coming back. He keeps fighting and he keeps working through and he’s got a great attitude and approach.”
Uncertainty clouds Magic, NBA future
Weltman also acknowledged that the offseason holds so many unknowns that it’s impossible to plan for what’s next as the league continues to determine how to proceed amid the pandemic. For now, teams are still limited to individual workouts at their facilities.
“We’re just in uncharted territory,” Weltman said. “We have no idea when free agency will start, when the draft will be held, when camp or the season will start what that will look like. The first thing to do right now, I think, for our group is to decompress. It’s been a very, very intense, emotional couple of months and we’ve, I think, been through more than most.”
The league originally had set the draft for Oct. 16 with free agency slated to begin Oct. 18 but those dates have yet to be confirmed. The idea of moving those dates came up during a recent meeting between commissioner Adam Silver and the league’s board of governors. Any shift in the draft and free agency period would also signal further changes to the start of the 2020-21 regular season.
The NBA proposed that training camps start Nov. 10 with games beginning Dec. 1, but the NBPA has voiced opposition to resuming the season roughly a month after the current one ends. The NBA Finals are slated to begin Sept. 30 with a potential Game 7 falling on Oct. 13.
“These things are all very much TBD and we’ll have to kind of roll with the punches,” Weltman said.