Maybe Mo Bamba isn’t done with the Orlando Magic after all?

The Orlando Magic had one of their more impressive wins on the road on Friday night, as they won a literal battle against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A game that will forever be remembered for the odd moment Austin Rivers felt the need to walk toward the Magic bench, prompting center Mo Bamba to retaliate.

Both men were obviously ejected from the game, alongside Jalen Suggs of the Magic and Jaden McDaniels and Taurean Prince of the Timberwolves.

While fighting is never condoned in the NBA or anywhere else, Magic fans were delighted to see the kind of fire in fifth-year player Bamba they have never seen before.

Mo Bamba’s future is up in the air right now, and he has been made available by trade. But could it be that he hangs around the Orlando Magic longer than anticipated?

On the surface that does not seem likely. Bamba finds himself down the depth chart behind Wendell Carter, Moe Wagner and the recently returned Jonathan Isaac. There is also the struggling Bol Bol vying for minutes in the mix.

With so many young players with talent and upside, the organization is coming to a point where tough decisions regarding their future are going to have to be made.

The price for Bamba remains doable for so many other franchises in the league. And yet, it does not seem like anybody has shown real interest.

But something interesting and worth keeping an eye on happened in that gutsy win over the Timberwolves. Despite being ejected, Bamba played 21 minutes, scoring 11 points as he started for Carter, who was dealing with a plantar fascia strain.

Pedestrian numbers, and yet this was the most minutes Bamba has played for the Magic since the win over the Boston Celtics on Dec.17. That is not nothing.

Even more impressive for Bamba, he achieved this while Isaac (who has been taking some games off as he comes back from over two years out) played 10 minutes in the game.

Detractors can say Bamba played this many minutes because he started in place of Carter., who was out with a foot injury. True as that may be, is not the point of Bamba on this roster to be able to step into this role whenever Carter is unavailable?

To add to that, if he is trusted to start in Wendell Carter’s place, instead of Bol Bol and Moe Wagner, does that not show us that there are still those in the organization who have some belief in what he can so?

Bamba played the same amount of minutes as Wagner, who is a more popular figure both with the fans and seemingly management as well because of the energy he brings off the bench. He is also the better defensive player. Wagner scored 19 points off the bench with one of the weirdest stat lines in team history. Bol saw 16 minutes of action and had 14 points.

But the fact  coach Jamahl Mosley did not lean into Bol Bol more and gave Mo Bamba a healthy portion of minutes, despite Bol having much the better season for the Magic, is something.

It may be that the organization are pushing hard to put Bamba in the spotlight as much as possible ahead of the deadline. But they could not have forced him to react the way he did to Rivers.

Again we are not glorifying what he did, and there is in all likelihood more between the two players that we do not know about. But at a time when the team was on the road and with their backs against the wall against a good opponent, Bamba did not lie down.

Rather he stepped up and added four rebounds and took a ridiculous seven shots from deep. He made three of them to go 42.9 percent from 3-point range, once again demonstrating his outside shot continues to become more reliable.

We have discussed here how the Magic’s biggest need at the deadline is a backup center. A more defensive-minded one, who can replicate a lot of what Carter does for this roster because of how important he is to it.

But if the right deal does not come together, is Bamba not now showing that he can be a passable backup option for short periods of time?

It is unfortunate for him, because Isaac is the better defender, Wagner has a higher motor off the bench and Bol is the more intriguing offensive weapon.

It has led to Bamba falling between the stools in this rotation, because the overlap of what he can do well just doesn’t fit next to the other players he is competing for minutes with.

But Friday night was a reminder that the Magic should be careful about letting Bamba leave for nothing. At least at this point in their growth.

They will need to trim their rotation and send out some players in order to add more established guys if they want to take that next step. Mo Bamba is still only 24, the same age as Markelle Fultz, and the point guard is only now rounding into what we all believed he can be.

He is also a big who continues to intrigue, because every time it seems like he is about to leave the Magic, he finds a way to hang tough in the rotation, and continue to fight for his spot.