BIOGRAPHY
Bonga was born on November 8, 1999 in Neuwied, Germany to parents originally from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is a forward in the NBA.
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. Bonga's older brother Tarsis plays association football for FSV Zwickau, while his younger brother plays basketball at the youth levels in Koblenz. At age seven, Bonga began playing streetball in Neuwied, and two years later, he joined the local club.
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.
On May 1, 2017, Bonga signed with agents Jason Ranne and Thad Foucher to enter the 2018 NBA draft, and entered the 2018 NBA draft as one of 54 international players to enter the draft that year. 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. After the acquisition, he signed a rookie scale contract with the Lakers. 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. In his G League debut on November 3, Bonga scored 27 points in a 108–106 loss to the Stockton Kings.
He made his NBA debut on December 7, 2018, playing one minute and seven seconds against the San Antonio Spurs. On December 20, 2018, Bonga was sent back to the G League. Bonga saw the hardwood in 22 games in his NBA rookie season to average 0.9 points and 1.1 rebounds. In G League play, he tallied 11.9 points per game in 31 contests as a rookie.
On July 5, 2019, Bonga was traded to the Washington Wizards in a three-team trade. Wiith the Wizards, he averaged 5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists per game in his first year (2019-20). In the 2020-21 season, he averaged 2 points, 1.7 rebounds and .6 assists per contest.
Bonga signed with the Toronto Raptors as a free agent on August 12, 2021.
