Isaac Bonga

Early life

Isaac Bonga came into the world in Neuwied, Germany, with roots in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. His father left for Germany in the early 1990s intending to go to Canada but ended up settling in Frankfurt and later Koblenz. His older brother Tarsis plays football for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, and his younger brother Joshua is a basketball player. Bonga started playing streetball in Neuwied at age seven, joining a local club two years later.

Amateur career

Bonga came through the youth system of Post SV Koblenz. He logged his first senior minutes during the 2014–15 season with SG Lützel-Post Koblenz in Germany's fifth-tier level 2 Regionalliga, winning the championship and earning promotion to the fourth division. In the 2015–16 Regionalliga season, he averaged 5.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2 assists over 24 games. He also played for the under-19 squad of Eintracht Frankfurt in the top-junior NBBL.

Professional career

In June 2016, Bonga signed a four-year deal with Skyliners Frankfurt of the Basketball Bundesliga. He was invited to the NBA Top 100 camp that same month and attended the 2016 Basketball without Borders Camp Europe in Helsinki. He made his Bundesliga debut at age 16 on September 23, 2016, playing 28 seconds in an 84–55 loss to Brose Bamberg. On May 1, 2017, he signed with agents to enter the 2018 NBA draft, and was selected 39th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers acquired him on July 6, 2018, in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick and cash considerations, and he signed a rookie-scale contract. He was assigned to the South Bay Lakers of the G League, scoring 27 points in his debut on November 3. He made his NBA debut on December 7, 2018, playing one minute and seven seconds against the San Antonio Spurs. In his rookie season, he appeared in 22 NBA games, averaging 0.9 points and 1.1 rebounds, and in 31 G League contests averaged 11.9 points.

On July 5, 2019, he was traded to the Washington Wizards in a three-team trade, where he averaged 5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 2019–20 and 2 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 2020–21. He signed with the Toronto Raptors as a free agent on August 12, 2021, playing 15 regular-season games and one playoff game. On August 19, 2022, he signed a two-year deal with Bayern Munich, winning the 2024 German championship and the 2023 and 2024 German Cup. He parted ways with the club on July 10, 2024.

National team career

Bonga played for the German under-16 team at the 2014 and 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championships, and for the under-19 team at the 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, averaging 6.6 points in seven games. He was first named to the senior German national team in November 2017 for 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. On February 23, 2018, he made his senior debut against Serbia, becoming the youngest German senior player in 40 years. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he started all four games, averaging 8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists.