Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, 3-and-D backup Los Angeles Lakers center Mo Bamba is making significant progress towards his first game back for LA after missing the last month of action.
Head coach Darvin Ham has revealed that LA intends to reassess Bamba's health tomorrow, and that he has been getting some on-court practice reps, Buha notes.
Buha adds in another tweet that, while a potential return to the hardwood as soon as tomorrow's game against the West's fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers can't be ruled out, it seems likelier that Bamba could return for the Lakers' penultimate 2022-23 regular season game, against the Phoenix Suns, the West's fourth seed.
Bamba last played on March 5th against the Golden State Warriors, the Western Conference's current fifth seed, but had to leave when he incurred a high left ankle sprain. The seven-footer has missed LA's previous 13 games.
Bamba had basically fallen out of the Lakers' rotation in favor of 6'9" power forward/center Wenyen Gabriel as the club's backup five behind star center Anthony Davis. LA holds a $10.3 million team option on Bamba, who has proven to be a more intriguing prospective fit than he has been actually helpful in reality, and would be a bit overpriced at that current rate. That said, he could certainly give Ham some optionality in the postseason, and having him back would be a boon for LA.
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