Adem Bona Okoro (born Ikechukwu Stanley Okoro; 28 March 2003) is a Nigerian-Turkish professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. Named a

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea. Brothers ...

in high school, he was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team and voted the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2023. Bona was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection and voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2024. He was selected by the 76ers in the second round of the

2024 NBA draft The 2024 NBA draft was the 78th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft. Unlike recent years, the 2024 draft took place over two nights. This was the first NBA draft to be held on multiple nights since the draft ...

Early life and career

Adem Bona Okoro was born Ikechukwu Stanley Okoro in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, Nigeria, as the youngest of five children. He grew up playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

but switched to

due to his height. He often played basketball with makeshift hoops in fields, sometimes without a ball. Okoro was playing for about one year when a video of him drew the attention of Turkish coach Türkay Çakıroğlu, who then contacted Istanbul Basket coach Nevzat Özdemir. At age 13, Bona moved to Turkey, leaving behind the rest of his family, and began his career with Istanbul Basket. In February 2019, he moved to

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name A Turkish name consists of an ''ad'' or an ''isim'' (given name; plural ''adlar'' and ''isimler'') and a ''soyadı'' or ''soyisim'' (surname). Turkish names exist in a "full name" format. While th ...

and continued competing at the youth level. On 30 October 2019, Bona made his professional debut for Pınar Karşıyaka, playing one minute in a 77–57 win over

Donar Thor (from ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Beside ...

in the

FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA Europe's second level competition. Clubs mainly qualify based on their performance in national leagues an ...

. On 16 November, he debuted in the

Basketball Super League Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(BSL), scoring two points in an 84–55 victory over

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

High school career

On 18 September 2020, it was announced that Bona would continue his career at Prolific Prep in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

Recruiting

Bona was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2022 class, according to major recruiting services. On 1 November 2021, he committed to playing college basketball for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

over an offer from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

College career

As a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Bona improved after about a month of foul trouble and dropped passes. On 2 January 2023, he was named the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

's freshman of the week after scoring the go-ahead basket in a comeback win over

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, followed by a season-high 18 points and three blocks in a victory against

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. He won consecutive freshman of the week honors after grabbing 10

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

along with two blocked shots to help UCLA beat

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

. On 2 March, Bona had a career-high 11 rebounds against

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

. In the 2023 Pac-12 tournament, he injured his left shoulder in the semifinals against

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. He missed the finals against

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, who defeated UCLA for the title. The Bruins received a No. 2 seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament. Bona was cleared to return in their opener, but he did not play in the 86–53 blowout over No. 15 seed UNC Asheville. He returned in the following game against Northwestern, but reaggravated his shoulder during the game late in the game. He was out for two minutes before returning to make a key block in the final minutes to help secure a 68–63 win over the seventh-seeded Wildcats. He was sidelined again for their next game against

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

, which UCLA lost 79–76. For the season, Bona started 32 games and averaged 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game, and led the Bruins with 57 blocks. He converted 67.5% of his

field goals A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, a ...

, which ranked second in the Pac-12. He was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive and Pac-12 All-Freshman teams and was voted the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. He also received honorable mention for the All-Pac-12 team. After the season, he declared for the

2023 NBA draft The 2023 NBA draft, the 77th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 22, 2023, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft consisted of 58 picks instead of the typical 60 for the second ...

, while retaining his college eligibility. Following surgery for a torn labrum in April, which prevented him from engaging in individual workouts prior to the draft, Bona withdrew from the draft. While recovering from his injury, Bona added a midrange jump shot and

post Post, POST, or posting may refer to: Postal services * Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal s ...

moves to his offensive game. He did not play in the Bruins' tour of Spain or in their exhibition game. In their 2023–24 season opener, he had career-highs of 28 points and four blocks in a 75–44 win over

Saint Francis St. Francis or Saint Francis may refer to: Roman Catholic saints *Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) *Francis of Paola (1416–1507), Italian (Calabrian) founder of the Order of the Minims * ...

. He also had nine rebounds. Bona was named to the All-Pac-12 first team and voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, the second consecutive Bruin to win the award after

Jaylen Clark Jaylen Bryce Clark (born October 13, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference, earn ...

in 2023. He averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, but continued to get into foul trouble. After the season, Bona announced that he was leaving UCLA and declaring for the NBA draft. He finished with 115 career blocks, which ranked sixth in Bruins' history.

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers / Delaware Blue Coats (2024–present)

On 21 July 2024, Bona was selected by the

in the second round of the

with the 41st overall pick. He made his NBA debut on October 23, 2024, in a 124-109 loss to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. Throughout his rookie season, Bona has been assigned several times to the

Delaware Blue Coats The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware. They are the G-League affiliates of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The Bl ...

. On April 3, 2025, Bona scored a career-high 28 points in a 126–113 loss against the

National team career

At the

2019 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 33rd edition of the FIBA U16 European Championship, Under-16 European Basketball Championship. The competition took place from 9 to 17 August 2019 in Udine, Italy. The top five teams qualified for th ...

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

, Bona averaged 14.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, and four blocks per game, leading

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

to fifth place. He ranked second at the tournament in rebounds and blocks and was named to the All-Star Five.

Career statistics

College

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, 33 , , 33 , , 26.5 , , .588 , , .000 , , .696 , , 5.9 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 1.8 , , 12.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 66 , , 65 , , 24.7 , , .621 , , .000 , , .652 , , 5.6 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , 1.7 , , 10.1 Source:

Personal life

In April 2018, Okoro became a Turkish citizen and officially changed his name to Adem Bona. He named himself after

Adam in Islam Adam (), in Schools of Islamic theology, Islamic theology, is believed to have been the List of protoplasts, first human being on Earth and the first Prophets and messengers in Islam, prophet (, ''nabī'') of Islam. Adam's role as the father of ...

References

External links

*
UCLA Bruins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bona, Adem 2003 births Living people 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen 21st-century Turkish sportsmen Basketball players from Lagos Delaware Blue Coats players Karşıyaka basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Naturalized citizens of Turkey NBA players from Nigeria Nigerian men's basketball players Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Power forwards Turkish men's basketball players Turkish people of Nigerian descent UCLA Bruins men's basketball players