The Bulls weren’t exactly loaded with talent or depth at center heading into this season, but the panic meter has spiked with the news that Zach Collins is expected to miss the first month of the 2025-26 campaign. That makes taking a low-risk flyer on a talented but well-traveled big man like Mo Bamba — who was recently released by the Utah Jazz — a smart next step for Chicago.
Nikola Vucevic will hold down the starting spot up front for the Bulls as long as he’s healthy. But the Serbian big man is entering his 15th NBA season, is about to turn 35 years old and is approaching the 1,000 career games played mark. Collins, who just underwent surgery on his left wrist, represented the closest thing head coach Billy Donovan had to a reliable reserve and leaves the 215-pound Jalen Smith as the most logical next man up.
Bamba isn’t a long-term answer to the Bulls’ most pressing question. He shouldn’t be counted on to play heavy minutes. But he’s still relatively young and has the skill set Chicago should be looking for.
Mo Bamba is the Bulls’ perfect Zach Collins cover after release from Jazz
Bamba, still just 27 years old, has elite measurables at 7-feet tall with a 7-foot-10 wingspan, 9-foot-7 standing reach and 36-inch vertical leap. It’s easy to see why he was the 6th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, but it’s also fair to consider him a bust after seven years of disappointing production.
While Vucevic remains one of the most skilled offensive centers in the league and can still rebound at a solid rate, he’s never been a good defender, and that deficiency is only getting more glaring as he ages. Smith is too thin to bang inside on a nightly basis. Matas Buzelis can play as a small-ball five in a pinch, but that’s not something Donovan should be ready to rely on.
Bamba undoubtedly comes with flaws. His massive size and rare athleticism should make him an elite shot-blocker, but he’s averaged only 1.3 across 364 career games. He showed the potential to be a legitimate stretch five during his lone college campaign with the Texas Longhorns but has never averaged more than 1.5 makes in any NBA season (he did it once when he played a career-high 71 games with the Orlando Magic in 2021-22).
Still, he’s a true center who can move, take up space and defend the rim. The Bulls don’t have any of those, and they’re now even more desperate for one with Collins out. Now that Bamba is available on what would presumably be a veteran’s minimum contract, it makes perfect sense for Chicago to add him to an unconvincing big-man group.
