In addition to his goals and aspirations, Bonga also spoke to us about Munich’s current crisis in the EuroLeague and remembered his tough time in the NBA.
Bonga’s attitude of entitlement: “Not really achieved anything yet”
Before FC Bayern, the 23-year-old was already active with the Skyliners Frankfurt in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), in 21 games in the national team and also in the NBA. Nevertheless, he “has the feeling that I haven’t really achieved anything in my life – basketball”. He has “always really high demands” on himself and always wants to improve something.
His current goal is to get to the absolute top level for himself and his new club. “Becoming the best in Europe”, that’s it.
Mental training, meditation and yoga
In order to improve further, he has also “started to work mentally” in recent years. Bonga meditates and does yoga with his teammates. And he’s good at switching off. As soon as he plays, the switch will be switched. “I’ve always had that,” says the 23-year-old.
Too many defeats in the EuroLeague: “Final phase decides”
However, the EuroLeague season with FC Bayern Munich is quite bumpy. Seven out of ten games have already been lost. That doesn’t fit Bonga’s ideas at all. “You think we could have won all ten, but the reality is a bit different,” explains the 23-year-old.
You can only be two points behind the whole game, “but in those seconds, when it’s really all about what the last two or three minutes in the fourth quarter are,” you have to be active and ready. Therein lies the problem of Munich. And that distinguishes “just the good teams from the really good teams”.
“It’s always hard to have that killer instinct, especially until the last second.” Isaac Bonga
Adaptation to the NBA for 148 missions
Bonga says about entering the best basketball professional league in the world, the NBA: “It’s always a difficult thing to find your role there.” The solution to the riddle is adaptability. In the NBA, it’s usually “they tell you we want you to do this and that,” says Bonga. Then try to work on that.
And that’s what he did. On December 7, 2018, Bonga became the youngest active NBA player to play for the Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA game for the first time. At his next stop, the Washington Wizards, he started 49 games and made 66 total appearances. After a total of 148 NBA games, Bonga finally came to FC Bayern Basketball during the 2022 summer break.
