NBA: Bonga at the Lakers: An apprentice in the travelling circus

Isaac Bonga has surprisingly made the leap into the NBA and signed his rookie contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers see the 18-year-old as an investment in the future – completely independent of the “circus” that will take place next to him.

No team has made as many headlines this summer as the Los Angeles Lakers. Everything was initially overshadowed in a positive sense by the commitment of LeBron James, which actually automatically secured the LakeShow a place among the winners of the offseason. What then followed, however, shook this picture a little in the eyes of many viewers.

JaVale McGee was brought in, just like Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson – all “interesting characters”, carefully put. With LaVar Ball also the king of steam chatterers in L.A. and LeBron taking a flurry of flashbulbs with him wherever he goes anyway, the Lakers are sure of a certain status: they won’t be the best, but the most interesting team of the coming season. A travelling circus, if you will.

Measured by these “loud” obligations, the signing announced by the franchise on Friday via tweet and press release was almost lost: “The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Forward Isaac Bonga, as General Manager Rob Pelinka announced today,” was soberly read there. This message came as a surprise.

The Lakers had secured Bonga’s rights shortly before the draft night two weeks ago by arranging a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers. However, due to the cap regulations, the trade could only be finalized on Friday when the moratorium expired. Therefore, only then could the “official” contact and the conclusion of the contract with Bonga take place.

From Lakers’ point of view, however, the decision had long since been made. Actually almost all the world had expected Bonga to be “parked” further in Europe as a classic draft-and-stash project – in view of his age (18) and his still quite raw playing, understandable. Instead, the Lakers Bonga gave him a three-year contract with a guaranteed salary for the first two years.

And not only that: According to media reports, they paid Bonga’s previous club, the Fraport Skyliners, 650,000 euros in training compensation – and according to the Sixers, they even paid 1.5 million dollars for the pick. Originally they wanted to wait for the impressions from the Summer League, but now the decision was made before Bonga could enter the Las Vegas court for the first time.

Of course, the investment in Bonga, which will earn $1 million next season, isn’t an overly big one for the Lakers, but it’s remarkable that they’re giving a “project” like him one of the 15 squad positions instead of signing another veteran here for a possible playoff run. And it shows how important it is to them to form this talent themselves.

The foundation stone for this was laid long before the draft, LeBron’s decision was even further away. On May 23 Bonga had played in El Segundo, in the Lakers training hall, in front of Magic Johnson and Pelinka. These appointments are not only about showing playful skills or presenting your athleticism, but also your character. And apparently the Lakers were absolutely thrilled by his total package.

How much? According to Lakers-insider Eric Pincus (Bleacher Report), the Lakers Bonga and his management explicitly asked to stay in the draft, he would still have had the opportunity to withdraw his name and try again next year, with more experience and more maturity.

“They made me a promise, so to speak, that they wanted me,” Bonga told Silver Screen and Roll in Las Vegas himself. Then they traded upstairs to get it. Bonga was a dream player for the Lakers, that becomes more and more clear.

That’s probably not because Magic, as the best point guard in NBA history, would see his match in Bonga – which, like Johnson, is 2.06 meters tall. The parallels between the two stop at this point and the Lakers don’t think they would have got the next Magic here. The German teenager is interesting for her from another point of view.

It should not be regarded as even a rudimentarily finished product. Bonga’s roll is shaky, his turnover vulnerability is obvious, as demonstrated once again by his first two Summer League games with 11 ball losses in just 29 minutes. Sometimes he acts very hastily – you can see that he is 18 years old and hasn’t played on a professional level for long.

At the same time, however, you can see some other characteristics that many players do not have even at a higher age. First and foremost the physical dimensions: Playmakers of this size and especially this length (2.13 m span!) are also very unusual in the NBA, especially since there is also a promising combination of playing feel, dynamics and athletics.

Bonga knows how to move in pick’n’roll, his overview is extremely wide for his age. “He is an excellent register for his size,” praised Moritz Wagner after the first joint appearance, for example. Also its defensive potential is obvious, with its length it is in itself made for the switch-friendly defense of today’s NBA.

“He always wants to play the open pass, and once he’s a better shooter and finisher, his game will be extremely open,” analysed Lakers Summer League coach Miles Simon. “He has good ball handling and can defend many positions. I really liked what I’ve seen of him so far. And he’s only been with us a few hours.”

Bonga is also a quick learner – the difference between Game 1 and Game 2 in the Summer League showed that. With the latter he still had actions in which he literally forgot to dribble and made step mistakes, but it was much better against the Bulls, especially since he was “much more aggressive” than before against Philly, as Simon noted.

Now the main thing is to build up a certain routine and self-confidence. That’s what Bonga said himself: He wanted to try “to do my thing and improve me,” he explained after the game against Philadelphia.

The Lakers will be patient with Bonga. He is not expected to be a permanent part of the rotation next season, which is currently quite well filled on the Guard positions with Ball, Rondo and Josh Hart anyway and James will probably also play many minutes “de facto” on the one again.

Bonga should spend a lot of time with the South Bay Lakers in the G-League to mature and, above all, to collect game practice. Ultimately, this is the biggest shortcoming he currently has. In a very short time he has already come a long way, but his development as a basketball player is still in its infancy.

However, the fact that the Lakers want to accompany Bonga directly from now on and are not allowing him to mature overseas speaks volumes about how much they think of him. You want to shape him yourself and decide with which drills he works on which facets of his game and what kind of player he becomes. In a way, Bonga is now an apprentice at the world’s most famous basketball franchise.

His own schedule is completely different from that of LeBron, Rondo and Co. and can therefore also be seen separately from the other Lakers. L.A. hopes Wagner will have an impact this season, but they will be satisfied with Bonga if he performs well in the G-League. For the “real” rotation it should be interesting as a fixed component in 2019/20 at the earliest, although it will certainly see a few minutes in the NBA in the coming season.

On the other hand, Bonga has already escaped his own schedule several times in recent years. It cannot therefore be ruled out that the next quantum leap will also take place earlier than expected. For the time being, he has no pressure – but almost ideal conditions to take the next step.