Magic exercise 2021-22 option on Mohamed Bamba

The Magic have exercised their fourth-year team option on center Mohamed Bamba‘s rookie-scale contract, the team announced in a press release.

Bamba’s $5.97M salary for the coming season had already been fully guaranteed. This ’s move will ensure that his $7.57M salary for the 2021-22 campaign is guaranteed as well. He’s now on track to become eligible for a rookie-scale extension during the 2021 offseason — if he doesn’t sign a new deal then, he’d head to restricted free agency in ’22.

Bamba, 22, missed time in each of his two NBA seasons due to health issues. Most recently, he was sidelined for the summer resumption after contracting COVID-19. Although he says he’s no longer dealing with any coronavirus symptoms or aftereffects, he’s still working on getting his conditioning back to 100 percent and hasn’t been fully cleared for contact yet this season.

In his 109 NBA regular-season games so far, Bamba has averaged 5.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 15.1 minutes per contest.

Our tracker for 2021-22 rookie-scale option decisions can be found right here.