Adem Bona's national team statement: Turkey or Nigeria?

At the end-of-season press conference held on Sunday, he responded to a question about a potential invitation from A National Team head coach Ergin Ataman for EuroBasket 2025 as follows:

'This is a very important topic for me. I wore the national team jersey in almost all youth categories from U16 to U20. That is why the Turkish National Team is very valuable to me. At the same time, I am Nigerian. The Nigerian National Team is also very important to me. Actually, I don't have any priority. I represent both countries equally. However, I will have to make a decision in the summer months.'

Sharing his thoughts on his first season in the NBA, Adem Bona said, 'This period was truly a learning process for me. Of course, I faced difficulties at times, but I also learned how I could be more useful to my team and how I could continue my individual development. I adapted to this environment quite quickly,' he stated.

Playing in a total of 57 games during the 2024-25 regular season under head coach Nick Nurse, Adem Bona averaged 5.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, 0.5 assists, and 0.4 steals per game.

WHO IS ADEM BONA?

Adem Bona was born on March 28, 2003, in Lagos, Nigeria, as the youngest of five siblings. Growing up playing football, Bona began to turn toward basketball as his height increased rapidly. He mostly tried to play basketball on makeshift hoops and sometimes without a ball. About a year after he was introduced to basketball, a video prepared about him caught the attention of Turkish coach Türkay Çakıroğlu. Çakıroğlu shared this video with Nevzat Özdemir, the coach of İstanbul Basket.

ADEM BONA'S CAREER

Adem Bona left his family and moved to Turkey when he was just 13 years old and began his basketball career at İstanbul Basket. Transferring to Pınar Karşıyaka in February 2019, Bona continued to play for their youth teams. On October 30, 2019, he took the first step in his professional career with Pınar Karşıyaka, playing for one minute in a 77-57 victory against Donar in the FIBA Europe Cup. Then, on November 16, 2019, he made his debut in the Basketball Super League, scoring two points in an 84-55 win against Galatasaray.

On September 18, 2020, he announced that he would continue his career at Prolific Prep in the U.S. state of California. Rated as a five-star talent according to scouting evaluations, Bona was ranked among the top players in the class of 2022. On November 1, 2021, he turned down an offer from Kentucky and chose UCLA, deciding to continue his college basketball career in that storied program.

News Source: 12punto