Adem Bona

Sixers Notes: Grimes, Yabusele, Butler, Nurse, Injury Report

March 18th, 2025 at 5:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Quentin Grimes, a trade deadline acquisition, continues to shine for the Sixers. The combo guard — a restricted free agent after this season — erupted for a career-high 46 points against the Rockets in an overtime loss on Monday. Grimes, who also finished with a career-best 13 rebounds, has scored 30 or more points in five separate games since coming to Philadelphia.

“It’s cool,” Grimes told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “But I had a costly turnover that cost us the game late in the fourth. I have to be better in those situations, probably on the ball, try to get fouled. It’s cool and all, but we probably should have just ended the game, ended it with a win.”

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While they have been decimated by injuries, big man Guerschon Yabusele has continued to play despite battling knee soreness. Yabusele sat out Monday’s game, but he’s appeared in 62 of 68 games and has served as a few of the few constants in Philadelphia this season. “That’s just who I am,” he told Pompey. “I always try to keep playing no matter what. You know that’s just me. I just want to compete. I want to be out there and help the guys. I hate just being on the bench and looking at the guys over there, struggling or losing. It’s something I don’t like to be a part of.” Yabusele has some extra incentive to stay on the court — he will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
The Sixers had only nine players available on Monday, yet nearly knocked off one of the better teams in the Western Conference. “I think it’s just outside of our nature to go out there and try to lose,” guard Jared Butler said, per Pompey. ”I can’t see myself playing like that in any kind of way.”
While some fans might be unhappy with head coach Nick Nurse, he shouldn’t be the scapegoat for the team’s dismal season, Pompey argues. Nurse has been forced to juggle the rotation throughout the season due to the rash of injuries, using 44 different starting lineups, Pompey points out.
Kelly Oubre Jr. is doubtful for Wednesday’s game against the Thunder due to a sprained right knee, Pompey tweets. Yabusele is questionable, while Tyrese Maxey, Andre Drummond, Adem Bona, Kyle Lowry and Lonnie Walker remain out.
In case you missed it, Paul George has been ruled out for the season. Get the details here.

Sixers Notes: Hood-Schifino, Reed, Bona, George, Embiid

March 17th, 2025 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Considering their lottery situation, the Sixers really didn’t need a win Sunday afternoon in Dallas, but that didn’t matter to Jalen Hood-Schifino or the other players trying to prove themselves at the NBA level, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Hood-Schifino, who signed a two-way contract on March 1, came off the bench to sink five three-pointers and score 19 points in 23 minutes. He also hit a pair of foul shots with four seconds left that put the game out of reach.

“For me, just focusing on my breath and saying calm, and knowing if I get those two free throws, the game is over,” Hood-Schifino said. “So for me, it was about relaxing and knocking those shots down.”

Pompey notes that while the Sixers snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 21 games, it wasn’t the best outcome for a team that will surrender its first-round pick to Oklahoma City if it falls outside the top six. Brooklyn also won on Sunday while Toronto lost, leaving Philadelphia with the sixth-worst record in the league, a half-game behind the Nets in the lottery standings and a half-game ahead of the Raptors.

“Listen, we are going to prepare this group to go out there and have some success,” coach Nick Nurse said. “Again, they played very well tonight. … Again, we just want to prepare them well and give them a chance to show what they can do and have some success.”

There’s more on the Sixers:

Pistons center Paul Reed, who was waived by Philadelphia in July, took a shot at his former team on social media Saturday night, posting, “They thought I was the problem,” Pompey adds. Asked to comment on Sunday, Nurse replied, “I don’t have a response. We certainly didn’t think Paul Reed was a problem.”
The Sixers’ list of inactive players for Sunday grew to 10 when center Adem Bona was declared out due to a sprained left ankle, Pompey tweets. There’s no word on how much time Bona is expected to miss.
The Sixers were counting on Paul George to lift them into title contention when he signed as a free agent last summer, but their best move might be to try to unload his hefty contract during the offseason, Pompey states in a separate story. The nine-time All-Star has been limited to 41 games this season and hasn’t played since March 4 because of groin and knee injuries. He’ll turn 35 in May and still has three years and $162.3MM left on his contract.
The Sixers won’t be able to make real progress until they move on from Joel Embiid, Pompey argues in another piece. He notes that Philadelphia’s front office keeps making personnel moves to build around Embiid, but the star center’s constant injuries prevent them from being effective. Pompey adds that with Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey using up virtually all the team’s cap space over the next several seasons, there’s little room to improve if they all remain on the roster.

Atlantic Notes: Springer, Stevens, Cofield, Raptors Rebouding, Bona

March 11th, 2025 at 7:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens notified Jaden Springer that he might be dealt before last month’s trade deadline. Springer wound up going to the Rockets and expressed appreciation for Stevens’ candor.

“Brad told me like before it actually (happened),” Springer told Brian Robb of Masslive.com. “He gave me a heads-up like, ‘Hey, something might happen,’ so, I’m happy he gave me like a heads-up. I appreciate Brad for bringing me in, let me get a championship with them guys and be on the team, so I appreciate them. I got love for them, so it’s pretty cool.”

Houston waived Springer and he wound up signing with Utah, first on a 10-day deal and then on a three-year contract. Springer didn’t play against his former team on Monday.

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Remy Cofield, the Celtics’ director of scouting, is leaving the NBA to become the general manager for the Arkansas athletic department, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets. Remy has been with the Celtics organization since 2013, including a stint as GM of their G League affiliate, and served as the scouting director for nearly five years. John Calipari is in his first season as the basketball coach for the Razorbacks.
There were plenty of missed shots in the Raptors-Wizards game on Monday and Toronto grabbed plenty of rebounds. The Raptors set a franchise-record with four players securing at least 10 rebounds in the 15-point victory, The Associated Press notes. They also set a franchise record with 73 rebounds. “It would not be fair to say that we did anything different (Monday) than we do the whole season,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Yes, we are focusing a lot on offensive rebounding, and we also focusing on offensive rebounding in many games.”
Sixers big man Adem Bona posted a 14-point, 15-rebound, five-block game against Utah on Sunday, then scored 12 points in 23 minutes while making all of his field-goal attempts against Atlanta on Monday. Bona believes he’s also gotten better with terminology and his defensive coverages, as he told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I would think one is communication,” the rookie said of his biggest growth. “Understanding the NBA terms, communicating what is called, and how to guard the pick-and-roll. I played the pick-and-roll completely different in college. Coming into the NBA and trying to adapt to that, that’s pretty big for me.”

Atlantic Notes: Barnes, Raptors, Embiid, Knicks’ Offense

December 5th, 2024 at 9:54pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Raptors are playing their best basketball of the season when star Scottie Barnes is on the floor, Sportsnet.ca’s Michael Grange writes. This season looked like an opportunity for Toronto to potentially bottom out and add a lottery prospect to a young core that includes Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter, but Barnes’ excellence is making that difficult.

Entering Thursday, Toronto had won five of their last eight games with Barnes in the lineup, trending up despite still holding a 7-16 record. Barnes was again deadly against the Pacers on Tuesday, finishing as a plus-18 in his 36 minutes. Part of that success stems from the chemistry Barnes is building with fellow forward RJ Barrett, Grange writes.

“When we’re both being aggressive, we’re both getting downhill, we’re both pushing the pace, finding each other in transition, it pays off really well,” Barnes said. “Our games complement each other really well, we’re finding each other with that space we’re able to create and play off that.”

While there’s plenty of time remaining in the regular season for movement up and down the standings, the Raptors are just two games behind the Pacers for the No. 10 seed and the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.

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Despite a rough start to the season, Toronto’s energy has been high all year thanks in part to a summer getaway that set the tone for the season, Eric Koreen of The Athletic details. “We were vibing. We were just vibing, having a good time,” Fernando said of the team’s trips to Spain and Miami this offseason. “We would definitely wake up first thing in the morning for workouts.” While the Raptors aren’t happy to have a losing record, Koreen writes that they understand that the team is a work in progress and is cognizant of their youth. Veterans have helped establish a culture and young players like Jamal Shead and Jonathan Mogbo expressed gratitude for their early career playing time. “I feel like we’re more together than teams that I’ve been on where we had a really good record,” newcomer Davion Mitchell said.
Sixers superstar Joel Embiid (left knee injury management) is set to miss his seventh straight game, having been ruled out for Friday’s game against Orlando, according to PHLY Sports’ Kyle Neubeck (Twitter link). Adem Bona was also ruled out while Andre Drummond, who missed the past two games, has been upgraded to questionable. Bona played on Wednesday with Embiid and Drummond out, but he was the only player 6’10” or taller to see action for the club. Philadelphia started Guerschon Yabusele and KJ Martin amid its frontcourt injuries.
The Knicks led the NBA with a 121.0 offensive rating heading into Thursday’s tilt against the Hornets, Peter Botte of the New York Post observes. Tom Thibodeau‘s team has consistently been effective on offense during his tenure, but New York has never had a league-best offense since the NBA started tracking points per 100 possessions. The Knicks’ five starters are averaging a collective 97.8 points per game and top reserve Miles McBride is adding a career-best 11.3 points per game.

Atlantic Notes: Sixers’ Struggles, Embiid, Drummond, Porzingis, Tillman

November 18th, 2024 at 11:54am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Sixers hold the NBA’s second-worst record at 2-10, only one game ahead of the Raptors for last place in the league. They rank last in the league in scoring, rebounding, assists and shooting. Amid the early season struggles, they’ve had some bright spots like rookie Jared McCain‘s strong play and Guerschon Yabusele‘s return to the league.

This version of the Sixers wasn’t built on silver linings. They were built to contend this offseason when they cleared their books in order to sign wing Paul George, re-sign guard Tyrese Maxey, and add several role players like Caleb Martin and Andre Drummond. Still, it’s impossible to overlook the difficult hand they’ve been dealt with injuries. Each of their three stars – Joel Embiid, Maxey and George – has dealt with a multi-week injury and the trio has yet to suit up in the same game this season.

Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer ponders whether the injuries are truly the only thing to blame for Philadelphia’s start or if there’s more going on.

“We’ve really got to get serious about the execution side of the offense, right?” coach Nick Nurse said. “… It’s not easy with a whole bunch of new guys and guys coming in and out, obviously. But that’s what we are. So we got to get to work on it for sure.”

There are areas for concern even at full health, Pompey opines. Maxey needs to regain his shooting touch from last year, as he’s only made 28.6% of his three-point attempts. George’s averages are also down from last season — he has scored 16.5 points per game on 39.8% shooting from the field (down from 22.6 PPG on 47.1% shooting last year). Embiid is also averaging 16.5 PPG on 26.9% shooting in two games. For my money, these are all small sample sizes and the raw numbers seem likely to balance out when the trio plays more together. Still, it’s a trend worth monitoring.

Pompey also adds that late-game struggles are an issue that needs fixing. After taking an eight-point lead on Friday against Orlando, the 76ers surrendered a 16-0 run and ended up losing.

“It seems like it’s every game,” Embiid said. “We have a very good 30 minutes. … [then fall apart] … especially, because we’re not at full strength and [I’m] not myself yet. So it feels like you don’t have a lot of margin for error.”

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Things likely won’t get any easier for the Sixers on Monday against the Heat. Embiid is listed as doubtful for the tilt in Miami due to an illness, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). If he’s ruled out, it would mark Embiid’s 11th game missed due to injury, illness, or suspension this fall.
Drummond only logged four first-half minutes on Friday against Orlando after missing last Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland while dealing with an illness. Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the Sixers‘ backup center looked “a lot bouncier and fresher” in Sunday’s practice, per Nurse. Yabusele logged backup center minutes against Orlando. Rookie second-round pick Adem Bona was assigned to the Delaware Blue Coats on Sunday but was quickly recalled on Monday, per PHLY Sports’ Derek Bodner (Twitter link) signaling Philadelphia’s lack of healthy frontcourt options.
Celtics center/forward Kristaps Porzingis has reached the next phase of his recovery process, per a release from the team. As part of his rehab process, he and Xavier Tillman were assigned to the G League’s Maine Celtics for a practice on Monday afternoon. After this practice, the pair will be recalled to Boston where Porzingis will continue to ramp up his workload. No further updates on a timeline are available. Porzingis hasn’t yet made his 2024 debut after undergoing offseason leg surgery. Tillman isn’t injured but was a DNP-CD in Boston’s last game and is averaging 1.5 points on 26.1% shooting this season.
The Knicks are undefeated this season when Karl-Anthony Towns has at least four assists, and Ian Begley of SNY writes that the team believes his passing has reached a new level. “He’s always been unselfish. He’s always been a team-first guy. But now I think he really sees things,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He understands what the defense is trying to do. He knows if there is overhelp. He’s seeing the whole floor now. Initially, like most young guys, the vision was more narrow. It may have been on one guy. But now he sees more than one guy. He sees the defense, he knows where everyone is. (He knows) if there’s overhelp, I can fake here and throw there. That goes a long way.”

Atlantic Notes: McCain, Bona, Quickley, Pritchard

November 14th, 2024 at 7:21pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Sixers fell to 2-9 on Wednesday with their loss to the Cavaliers, but rookie Jared McCain continued to be a bright spot for his team. The Duke product scored career highs of 34 points and 10 assists in the loss, making six of his 13 three-point attempts. As Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer observes, McCain’s 34 points were the most by a rookie in a game this season and they came in his first career start.

“I just attribute [the career night] to my work,” McCain said. “I work so hard, so I feel like I need these games. I’m starting to learn more about being a lead guard. I feel like in college [at Duke], it was more off-ball. So definitely learning the process there, cutting back on turnovers and reading the game a little slower. But then again, I feel like I’m finding my shot, whether it’s midrange, getting to the rim, and obviously shooting the three.”

As we noted Wednesday, McCain has logged 30 or more minutes in each of his last four games. Without Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers are leaning more on the rookie’s guard skills.

“Obviously, another great game for him,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “I think the biggest thing was the 10 assists for me. I know 34 is a huge number. Again, he’s mostly been doing it one way. And to do that you are starting to … create. I felt he did a good job for the most part, getting it out to other people to get some buckets. And that’s pretty fast learning, right?”

As Pompey notes, McCain is one of five Sixers to play in every game, and his 13.5 points per contest rank fourth on the team. He’s making 38.5% of his three-point attempts this season.

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Fellow Sixers rookie Adem Bona received his first big minutes on Wednesday against the Cavaliers. Bona produced four points and nine rebounds in 17 minutes, which left him feeling encouraged, Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “It felt amazing having the opportunity to do what I do out there,” Bona said. “The coaches trusted me, putting me in the game. That was like a little confidence boost for me, to show the coach I can contribute and help the team.” Bona might not play much this season, but he got this opportunity with Joel Embiid out due to injury management and Andre Drummond sidelined due to an illness. “He should be excited to get his opportunity,” Nurse said. “Let’s see what he does with it.“
The first anniversary of the trade for Immanuel Quickley is coming up for the Raptors, but he has only played 25 games alongside fellow cornerstone Scottie Barnes, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes. Quickley and Barnes have traded off time on the injured list since the acquisition, and Quickley’s now likely to miss about a month with a UCL injury, Grange notes.
The four-year, $30MM deal Payton Pritchard signed with the Celtics in 2023 continues to look like a bargain, Brian Robb of MassLive.com writes. Pritchard has been a tremendous factor in the rotation this season, averaging 16.2 points per game while shooting 42.7% from three. His 23 points on Wednesday against Brooklyn helped the Celtics turn an 11-point first-half deficit into a blowout win. “Payton’s been excellent,” teammate Jaylen Brown said. “He’s been great, and that’s what we need. He’s been a superstar in his role. It’s almost like now it’s kind of expected because he’s done it so much and he’s done it so well. But obviously, it’s a long season. We’ve got to keep encouraging and finding him. And at times even playing through him; let Payton run the show. I don’t mind, especially when guys have a role in it. Just have the mindset that we’re a team, and whatever it takes to get it done.“

Sixers Notes: Embiid, Maxey, McCain, Yabusele

October 3rd, 2024 at 5:13pm CST by Tristan Tucker

By all measures, Joel Embiid‘s NBA career has been a resounding success. Having burst onto the scene in 2016 after missing his first two seasons with injury, Embiid has won an MVP award, received seven All-Star nods, has an Olympic gold medal and, as Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated writes, has locked in over $500MM in total (past and future) career earnings.

However, Embiid has never made it past the second round of the playoffs during his tenure with the Sixers. From 2017-23, Embiid’s teams went to the second round in six of seven seasons, but didn’t appear in the Eastern Finals. Teams like the 2019 Sixers gave it their all but lost to the eventual NBA champions. In other years, like in 2021 against the Hawks, the Sixers probably should’ve advanced on paper.

Regardless of the fact that teams like the reigning champion Celtics or the new-look Knicks stand in their way, Embiid is more than ready to add a championship to his resume, Mannix writes. At nearly 31 years old, he’s feeling the urgency to win now. After several injuries that have impacted him in the playoffs, the star center is prepared to do whatever it takes to get to the playoffs in a healthy and dominant state.

“Basically every single year of my career, I’ve been hurting in the playoffs,” Embiid said, after explaining that back-to-backs would be phased out for him this season. “So I think that’s the goal. And it is all about doing whatever it takes to get there.”

While the Sixers made plenty of strong moves this offseason, including adding Paul George and Caleb Martin, they all understand their postseason ceiling hinges on the availability of Embiid, who is now in his 30s. While the championship window may be limited overall, Embiid is excited by the success he enjoyed this summer with the Olympic team, per Mannix, and he’s hoping to keep that momentum going this season.

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On the subject of staying healthy, Embiid knows the medical staff will tell him to ease off more than he would like this season, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps writes. He understands that’s what he will need to do if he wants to make the postseason and stay there. “They know that if they have to punch me, slap me, take my stuff away from me [to] not to get on that court, they’re going to have to do it,” Embiid said. “I might get mad, I might curse people out, but I think it’s a relationship. We’ve been working together for years now. Now I look at the big picture, and I’ve always listened to them, but now it’s even more of the time where I should listen and see what they have to say.” According to Embiid, he has already lost 25-30 pounds before the season and is aiming to lose more in accordance with his conditioning.
Tyrese Maxey has consistently improved over the course of his four NBA seasons, but he’s now added muscle and is sounding different thus far in training camp, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Maxey is assuming the role of a veteran leader during training camp, which has included closely mentoring 2024 draftees Jared McCain and Adem Bona. All three went out together for dinner, Pompey adds. “I lead by example now,” Maxey said. “I get up early and work out early in the morning before practice. And I like to win. I want to win. I know how things work around here. I’m just trying to be what’s demanded and make us be more dominant.“
The Sixers used the 16th overall pick in the 2024 draft on McCain, a sweet-shooting guard prospect out of Duke. While he’s only 20 years old, the rookie is already impressing teammates in training camp. According to Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link), Embiid called McCain the team’s best player in camp so far, making a point to highlight his competitiveness and shooting. McCain averaged 14.3 points per game and shot 41.4% from three in his first and only college season. He’ll compete for minutes with veterans Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson.
Former first round pick Guerschon Yabusele turned heads during the 2024 Olympics due to his play for France. Although he hasn’t played in the NBA since 2019, the Sixers are counting on the 6’8″ forward to make an impact as a high-energy reserve who can make hustle plays and hit the occasional deep shot. “Yabusele was a great pickup just from when you are looking at the whole roster all summer long,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “You are kind of thinking, ‘Where is a need there?’ And I think there was probably a need at the four spot, and that’s what he is.” According to Pompey in a separate story, Nurse said Yabusele will get a shot at regular rotation minutes.

Atlantic Notes: Tatum, Brown, Celtics, Mogbo, Raptors, Thibs

July 25th, 2024 at 10:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Chris Mannix of SI.com about his relationship with longtime teammate Jaylen Brown, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said he never wanted Brown traded, but admitted that he could have expressed that sentiment more vocally earlier in his career as trade rumors swirled around the 2016 lottery pick.

“I’ve always told him that maybe I could have done a better job of voicing my feelings in the public eye,” Tatum said. “He always knew that I wanted him here. I would always tell him like, ‘Man, I don’t get involved with any of those talks.’

“I never went to (Celtics president of basketball operations) Brad (Stevens) or went to any player like, ‘Yo, I want this guy in, I want this guy out of here.’ I show up and I want to do my job and play basketball. And looking back on in those moments, I didn’t know how that could affect somebody, because I was never in that situation. I feel like maybe I could have done a better job of publicly saying, ‘No, we don’t want anybody, we want JB.’ I just was always like, ‘I want to stay out of it.'”

The Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals in five of Brown’s first seven seasons, but were unable to break through and win a championship until 2024. Now that they have that title under their belt, Tatum is relieved that he and Brown should no longer have to face questions about whether it can thrive together and win at the highest level.

“We’ve figured out that we need each other,” Tatum told Mannix. “We have learned how to coexist. And we know we need to be the best version of ourselves in order for all of this to work. We weren’t necessarily the best play-makers early in our careers but we developed into guys that really bleed the game. We want to be a great example of guys that play on both ends as a floor and guys who are the best teammates that we can be.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

After locking up most of their rotation players to multiyear deals, the Celtics project to have the NBA’s first ever $500MM roster in 2025/26, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. That $500MM+ figure, which includes both player salaries and luxury tax penalties, will loom large over the organization as the team looks to defend its title and the ownership group looks to sell a controlling stake in the franchise.
Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca takes a closer look at the unconventional path that Raptors rookie Jonathan Mogbo – the No. 31 pick in this year’s draft – took to the NBA and details how the 6’7″ forward boosted his stock significantly during the pre-draft process. According to Lewenberg, entering the second day of the draft, the Raptors did some extra homework on the projected first-round picks who were still available after day one – such as Kyle Filipowski and Johnny Furphy – but ultimately decided they preferred Mogbo, whom they’d ranked in the early 20s. Eventual No. 41 pick Adem Bona was also high on Toronto’s board and received some consideration at the start of the second round, Lewenberg adds.
Tom Thibodeau‘s new three-year extension with the Knicks doesn’t include any option years, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. While Begley doesn’t have the full salary details on Thibodeau’s new deal, he says it’s is “in line with the current market for head coaches” (Twitter link).

Contract Details: Mobley, K. Johnson, Bona, Matkovic

July 23rd, 2024 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The five-year, maximum-salary contract extension that Evan Mobley signed with the Cavaliers features multiple levels of Rose Rule incentives, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during the last episode of The Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link).

According to Windhorst, Mobley’s deal will begin at 27% of the 2025/26 cap if he makes the All-NBA Third Team next season. If he makes the All-NBA First or Second Team or wins Defensive Player of the Year, the starting salary in the extension would be 30% of the ’25/26 cap.

Assuming Mobley isn’t named Defensive Player of the Year and doesn’t make an All-NBA team, his deal would begin at the standard max for a player with four years of NBA experience (25% of the cap).

Here are more details on a few contracts recently signed around the NBA:

Keon Johnson‘s two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Nets is partially guaranteed for $250K in 2024/25, Hoops Rumors has learned. That partial guarantee will increase to $700K if Johnson remains under contract through the first day of the regular season. The second year is a team option that would be partially guaranteed for $271,614 if it’s exercised.
The four-year contract that No. 41 overall pick Adem Bona signed with the Sixers is worth the minimum across all four seasons and is only fully guaranteed in year one, Hoops Rumors has learned. Bona’s second-year salary of $1,955,377 is just 50% guaranteed, while his third- and fourth-year salaries are non-guaranteed. The fourth year is also a team option.
Karlo Matkovic‘s three-year contract with the Pelicans is worth $5.65MM and is fully guaranteed for the first two seasons, with a third-year team option, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The terms reported by Scotto suggest that New Orleans used the second-round exception to give Matkovic a salary a little above the rookie minimum in 2024/25, with minimum salaries in years two and three.

Sixers Sign Adem Bona To Four-Year Deal

July 21st, 2024 at 8:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

JULY 21: The signing is official, according to a team press release.

JULY 14: Sixers second-rounder Adem Bona has agreed on a four-year, $8MM rookie contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Bona was selected with the No. 41 pick in last month’s draft.

Philadelphia will be using the second-round exception to sign the former UCLA center, which means the fourth year will be a team option. A four-year, minimum-salary contract for a rookie would be worth about $7.9MM, so the terms reported by Charania are either rounded up or suggest Bona will earn a bit more than the minimum in year one.

Bona has averaged 6.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 22.7 minutes per night thus far for Philadelphia’s Summer League squad. In his final collegiate season with the Bruins, he averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 1.2 assists and 1.1 steals in 33 games.

Bona is currently slotted in as the No. 3 center on the Sixers’ depth chart behind Joel Embiid and free agent acquisition Andre Drummond.

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