Isaac Bonga

Isaac Bonga
Bonga in January 2017
No. 17 – Los Angeles Lakers
Position Guard / Small forward
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1999-11-08) November 8, 1999
Neuwied, Germany
Nationality German
Listed height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 2018 / Round: 2 / Pick: 39th overall
Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers
Playing career 2016–present
Career history
2016–2018 Skyliners Frankfurt
2016–2018 →Skyliners Juniors
2018–present Los Angeles Lakers

Isaac Evolue Etue Bofenda Bonga (born November 8, 1999) is a German professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m),[1] he began his professional career with the Frankfurt Skyliners of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).[2] Born in Neuwied, Bonga represents the senior German national team in international competitions. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers (second round, 39th overall) and immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2018 NBA draft.

Early life

Bonga was born in Neuwied, Germany to parents originally from the Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.[3][4] His father emigrated to Germany in the early 1990s with plans to move to Canada, but he instead stayed in the country and began living in Frankfurt and then Koblenz.[5][3] Bonga's older brother Tarsis plays association football for FSV Zwickau, while his younger brother plays basketball at the youth levels in Koblenz.[6] At age seven, Bonga began playing streetball in Neuwied, and two years later, he joined the local club.[4]

Amateur career

Bonga is a product of Post SV Koblenz, and logged his first minutes in senior basketball during the 2014–15 season, when competing in Germany’s fifth-tier level 2. Regionalliga with SG Lützel-Post Koblenz. After winning the championship with the team, and earning a league promotion to the fourth division (Regionalliga), he saw action in 24 games during the 2015–16 Regionalliga season, averaging 5.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2 assists per contest. He also represented the under 19-squad of Eintracht Frankfurt, in Germany’s top-junior division NBBL.[7]

Professional career

Skyliners Frankfurt (2016–2018)

In June 2016, Bonga signed a four-year deal with the Frankfurt Skyliners of the Basketball Bundesliga, Germany's top-flight level league.[8] He was invited to the NBA Top 100 camp in Charlottesville, Virginia, the same month.[9] Bonga was one of the top-European prospects to be picked to attend the 2016 Basketball without Borders Camp Europe in Helsinki in September 2016.[10]

Bonga made his Bundesliga debut for Frankfurt at age 16 on September 23, 2016 in a 84–55 loss against Brose Bamberg, as he played 28 seconds.[11]

NBA Draft

On May 1, 2017, Bonga signed with agents Jason Ranne and Thad Foucher to enter the 2018 NBA draft.[12]

Los Angeles Lakers (2018–present)

Bonga would later enter the 2018 NBA draft as one of 54 international players to enter the draft that year. [13] On June 21, 2018, Bonga was selected with the 39th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers. On July 6, 2018, the Lakers would officially acquire Bonga in a trade involving the 76ers trading him to the Lakers in exchange for the 2019 second round pick and cash considerations.[14] After the acquisition, he signed a rookie scale contract with the Lakers.[15]

National team career

Bonga played at both the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship and the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship with the Under-16 German national team.[16] In 2017, he participated in the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup with the Under-19 German national team, averaging 6.6 points in seven contests[17] en route to a fifth-place finish.

In November 2017, he was named to the senior German Men’s National Team roster for the first time in his career, to take part in the qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.[18] Aged 18 and three months, he made his Germany senior national team debut on February 23, 2018, in a World Cup qualifier against Serbia, becoming the youngest German player to do so in 40 years.[19]

References

  1. ↑ HEIGHT 6 ft 9 in WEIGHT 203 lbs.
  2. ↑ Timur Tinç, Von (August 7, 2017). "Basketball statt Schule". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Givony, Jonathan (September 12, 2016). "NBA Basketball Without Borders Europe Camp Top Prospects". DraftExpress. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Hein, David (January 13, 2017). "Leadership, taking responsibility atop Bonga's development list". Adidas Next Generation Tournament. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  5. ↑ Hein, David (January 13, 2017). ""If people think I'm good or not, I'm not interested in that" – German talent Bonga". HeinNews. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Isaac Bonga". Eurospects. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  7. ↑ "NBBL / JBBL - Spieler-Statistik - - Eintracht Frankfurt / FRAPORT SKYLINERS". statistik.basketball-bundesliga.de. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  8. ↑ "FRAPORT SKYLINERS verpflichten Nachwuchs-Nationalspieler Isaac Bonga | FRAPORT SKYLINERS". www.fraport-skyliners.de. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  9. ↑ "2016 NBA Top 100 camp player roster | HoopSeen". www.hoopseen.com. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  10. ↑ "Bonga und Herkenhoff bei Basketball without Borders « Deutscher Basketball Bund". www.basketball-bund.de. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
  11. ↑ "easyCredit - 2016-09-23 BAM-FRA". www.easycredit-bbl.de. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  12. ↑ Jonathan Givony [@DraftExpress] (1 May 2017). "Jason Ranne and Thad Foucher of @Wasserman have signed elite 1999 German prospect Isaac Bonga for the 2018 NBA draft, the agency announces" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. ↑ Boone, Kyle. "NBA Draft 2018: Who's staying in and who's going back to college after testing the waters". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  14. ↑ "Lakers Acquire Isaac Bonga in Trade with Philadelphia". Lakers.com. July 6, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Lakers Sign Isaac Bonga". NBA.com. July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Isaac Evolue Etue B. Bonga profile, U16 European Championship Men 2015 | FIBA.COM". FIBA.COM. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  17. ↑ "Allemagne at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017 - FIBA.basketball". FIBA.basketball (in French). Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  18. ↑ "DBB-Herren: Rödl nominiert Kader « Deutscher Basketball Bund". www.basketball-bund.de. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  19. ↑ Germany, kicker online, Nürnberg,. "Quali-Überraschung: Deutschland schlägt Serbien". kicker online (in German). Retrieved 2018-02-23.
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