The Philadelphia 76ers saw real flashes from Adem Bona during his rookie season. They have responded by loading up on other bigs so that he never gets to play.
Last season was a painful one for fans of the Philadelphia 76ers, with a team thought to be an Eastern Conference contender falling apart due to injury and finishing with the 5th-worst record in the NBA. Thankfully, that season came with a few silver linings.
The shiniest of those was landing the No. 3 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and drafting Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe. Others include the hot start of rookie Jared McCain before he went down with an injury, the breakout season for Quentin Grimes and the playing time the disastrous year provided for players such as Justin Edwards and Adem Bona.
Bona was drafted 41st overall in last year's NBA Draft out of UCLA and thought to be more of a project as a long-term backup center. Last year's rash of injuries meant he played in a whopping 58 games over the course of the year, even starting 11 times.
He didn't take the league by storm, but he did show very real flashes of being an NBA player. He is something of a traditional rim-running big man, a fierce rebounder and a borderline elite shot-blocker.
Out of all players who logged at least 750 minutes last season, Bona ranked fourth in block percentage, swatting 7.5 percent of opponent shots when he was on the court. Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren and Top-10 pick Donovan Clingan were ahead of him. That is heady company.
With Andre Drummond long in the tooth and a candidate to be traded to reduce salary, Bona looked like he was being set up for another large role this next season. Then the offseason hit, and the 76ers made their thoughts on Bona quite clear.
The 76ers don't think Adem Bona is ready
Drummond was retained on his $5 million salary for next season. In addition, the team drafted polished college big man Johni Broome, one of the best players in college basketball last season with significantly more offensive skill that Bona. They signed Trendon Watford, another big man, in free agency to be Joel Embiid's direct backup, and then used a two-way spot on a center in Dominick Barlow.
That is a whole lot of bodies at the center position, a few of whom have a higher pedigree than Bona. If the plan was to continue featuring him as the center off the bench it would have made more sense to add talent at other positions, but the 76ers clearly felt that they needed more bodies at center.
Bona could obviously outperform the competition in training camp and win the job (back?) but the front office clearly values these players and the coaching staff will likely favor more veteran options. There is plenty of time for Bona to grow into the role, but that's what the organization has in mind: growth, future progress, not a present acknowledgment that the flashes of a raw rookie are anything ready to be served.
After playing a lot of minutes as a second-round rookie, Bona may be spending most of his second season moving backwards and suiting up for the Delaware Blue Coats. The franchise has made itself crystal clear: it is not Adem Bona time in Philadelphia this season.