It remains a mystery as to which player the Dallas Mavericks will spend their No. 5 pick on in the first round of the looming 2018 NBA Draft, but it does appear that the team is very much impressed with Texas Longhorns product Mo Bamba, especially after the big man’s workout with the team on Monday.

In fact, according to sources of Mike Fisher of DallasBasketball.com, Bamba’s workout only verified what the Mavs thought of the youngster.

Mohamed Bamba's pre-NBA Draft workout with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, sources tell DBcom, was largely about “confirmation.”

The Mavs, holding the No. 5 overall pick, knew that the intelligent and charismatic University of Texas center would interview well — and he did. That may be his top trait … that the team that selects the 7-1 freshman will be getting a person of quality.

This shows that teams are giving more weight now into the intangibles of prospects, particularly paying attention to their attitude and behavior.

As for Bamba’s on-court skills, the Mavs were also left enthralled of the player's abilities, even exceeding expectations in a couple of categories.

But in two areas, maybe “confirmation” was exceeded, we're told.

“He shot the lights out,” one source who was in the gym told us. “He shot it well.”
Bamba has repeated told teams and the media in interviews that he's worked to improve his perimeter shot.
“It looks really smooth,” he recently said.

If it’s true that Bamba has really improved on his perimeter game, then it would make it even harder for teams to pass up on him in the draft so long as he remains available of course. Back in Austin, Bamba shot just 27.5 percent from the 3-point area. His jumper inside the arc also looked highly questionable, as he made only 32.2 percent of his two-point jumpers in one season with Texas.

Another surprising assessment of Mo Bamba from the Mavs was about his athleticism.

“He's more athletic that you might first assume,” a Mavs staffer tells us.

Bamba was recently reported to have run a 3.04 in a three-quarters-court sprint, so what the Mavs were saying only reinforces Bamba’s perceived level of athleticism.