Isaac Bonga

Isaac Evolue Etue Bofenda Bonga (born November 8, 1999) is a German professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), he began his professional career with Skyliners Frankfurt of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).[1] 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. Bonga is the only active NBA player to have a body mass index (BMI) below 20.[2]

Isaac Bonga
Bonga with the Washington Wizards in 2020
No. 17 – Washington Wizards
PositionSmall forward
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1999-11-08) November 8, 1999
Neuwied, Germany
NationalityGerman
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight180 lb (82 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2018 / Round: 2 / Pick: 39th overall
Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers
Playing career2016–present
Career history
2016–2018Skyliners Frankfurt
2016–2018→Skyliners Juniors
2018–2019Los Angeles Lakers
2018–2019→South Bay Lakers
2019–presentWashington Wizards
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Early life

Bonga was born in Neuwied, Germany to parents originally from 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 VfL Bochum, 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 Skyliners Frankfurt of the Basketball Bundesliga.[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 the Skyliners at age 16 on September 23, 2016, in an 84–55 loss to Brose Bamberg, as he played 28 seconds.[11]

Los Angeles Lakers (2018–2019)

On May 1, 2017, Bonga signed with agents Jason Ranne and Thad Foucher to enter the 2018 NBA draft,[12] and entered 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, the Lakers officially acquired 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] He was assigned to their NBA G League team South Bay Lakers on October 22, after having appeared in preseason contests for the Los Angeles Lakers.[16] In his G League debut on November 3, Bonga scored 27 points in a 108–106 loss to the Stockton Kings.[17]

He made his NBA debut on December 7, 2018, playing one minute and seven seconds against the San Antonio Spurs.[18] On December 20, 2018, Bonga was sent back to the G League.[19] Bonga saw the hardwood in 22 games in his NBA rookie season to average 0.9 points and 1.1 rebounds.[20] In G League play, he tallied 11.9 points per game in 31 contests as a rookie.[21]

Washington Wizards (2019–present)

On July 5, 2019, Bonga was traded to the Washington Wizards in a three-team trade.[22]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2018–19 L.A. Lakers 2205.5.152.000.6001.10.70.40.20.9
2019–20 Washington 664918.9.504.352.8123.41.20.70.35.0
Career 884915.6.461.316.7802.81.00.60.34.0

National team career

Bonga played at both the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship and the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship for the German under-16 national team.[23] In 2017, he participated in the 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup with the German under-19 national team, averaging 6.6 points in seven contests[24] 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 Basketball World Cup.[25] Aged 18 and three months, he made his German senior national team debut on February 23, 2018, in a World Cup qualifier against Serbia, becoming the youngest German player to play for the senior team in 40 years.[26]

References
  1. Timur Tinç, Von (August 7, 2017). "Basketball statt Schule". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  2. "NBA.com/stats Player Bios". nba.com. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  3. Givony, Jonathan (September 12, 2016). "NBA Basketball Without Borders Europe Camp Top Prospects". DraftExpress. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  4. 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 June 18, 2016.
  8. "FRAPORT SKYLINERS verpflichten Nachwuchs-Nationalspieler Isaac Bonga". www.fraport-skyliners.de. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  9. "2016 NBA Top 100 camp player roster". www.hoopseen.com. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  10. "Bonga und Herkenhoff bei Basketball without Borders - Deutscher Basketball Bund". www.basketball-bund.de. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  11. "easyCredit - 2016-09-23 BAM-FRA". www.easycredit-bbl.de. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  12. Jonathan Givony [@DraftExpress] (May 1, 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 June 27, 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. "Los Angeles Lakers assign Isaac Bonga to South Bay - South Bay Lakers". South Bay Lakers. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  17. "11/03/18: Stockton Kings @ South Bay Lakers - NBA G League". NBA G League. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
  18. "Features | NBA.com". www.nba.com. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  19. "Lakers' Isaac Bonga: Shipped back to G League". CBS Sports. December 20, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  20. "Isaac Bonga". NBA Stats. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  21. "Isaac Bonga". NBA G League. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  22. "Wizards acquire Wagner, Jones and Bonga from Lakers". NBA.com. July 5, 2019.
  23. "Isaac Evolue Etue B. Bonga profile, U16 European Championship Men 2015". FIBA.COM. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  24. "Allemagne at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017 - FIBA.basketball". FIBA.basketball (in French). Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  25. "DBB-Herren: Rödl nominiert Kader - Deutscher Basketball Bund". www.basketball-bund.de. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  26. Germany, kicker online, Nürnberg. "Quali-Überraschung: Deutschland schlägt Serbien". kicker online (in German). Retrieved February 23, 2018.
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