Rookie big man Adem Bona is now fully locked in with the Sixers.
The 41st overall pick in this year’s NBA draft has agreed to sign a four-year, $8 million contract, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported.
The NBA’s second-round pick exception allows teams to sign second-rounders without affecting their salary cap outlook. Under the second-round exception, the final season of a four-year deal is a team option.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Bona won the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award as a UCLA sophomore and averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks.
He’s been outstanding defensively in his first four Sixers summer league appearances, hustling all over the place and hunting blocked shots. Bona’s nine blocks over the Sixers’ three games in Utah led the Salt Lake City summer league. He rejected five more during the team’s win Saturday night against the Pistons in Las Vegas.
“One of the things I would love to show is to be able to do everything defensively — on ball, pick-and-roll, switching,” Bona said at his introductory press conference. “That’s one thing I would love to show my rookie year. … Offensively, to be able to get out in the pick-and-roll and to play fast, which is one of my strengths.”
The two other centers on the Sixers roster are seven-time All-Star Joel Embiid and exceptional veteran rebounder Andre Drummond.
NBA
The 21-year-old Bona believes being Embiid’s teammate will help as he finds what works for him at the NBA level.
“Playing against him, going against him every day is going to be a handful for me,” he said. “And also, it’s going to be a learning process for me. To be able to learn from such an amazing player, it’s really going to be a good step for me in my career.”