By Giorgos Adamopoulos / gadamopoulos@eurohoops.net
Isaac Bonga has been building his game on observation. During his 148-game stint in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, and Toronto Raptors, he shared the floor with players like Russell Westbrook and LeBron James. The biggest takeaway from that environment was how veterans structure their daily lives.
The new Panathinaikos Aktor player in the EuroLeague paid close attention to the small habits that keep players at the top for decades. Rather than trying to match everyone else’s physical traits, he focused on building a steady mental foundation.
“One thing I always say about LeBron is that consistency is really important. Consistency and discipline. If you look at every single day that he did, it looked like the same day. From the routine, the things he would do. So, this is one thing I picked up from him,” Bonga told Eurohoops. “You have a routine. You try to stick to it, obviously, even though the environment is going to change. It’s going to happen sometimes.”
“I’m a person that observes a lot, seeing what they do,” he added on learning from former teammates. “I’m trying to implement it into my routine. It’s like taking the frame of it, and then adjusting it to my routine, my game, and my way of progressing.”
Obradovic recipe
Bonga returned to Europe in 2022 to continue his growth. After two years with FC Bayern Munich, he joined Partizan Mozzart Bet. There, he met coach Zeljko Obradovic.
“Just the way he can kind of simplify the game, the fundamentals and the details. Sometimes it’s boring in the sense that you keep saying the same stuff, but the same stuff is going to be the stuff that’s going to make the difference,” he shared with Eurohoops.
When Bonga hit the free-agent market this offseason, he waited for the right opportunity before deciding to play for the legendary coach again, this time by penning a three-year contract with Panathinaikos.
“It was a little bit of just waiting for the market. Just keep every option open as much as possible. At the end of the day, I definitely did a great job coming here,” he shared his approach during the offseason, including considering a return to the NBA.
Defender identity
Long before the EuroLeague, the German combo forward grew up playing football to follow his older brother. Several years later, his size and versatility allow him to fit into modern, positionless basketball lineups.
This has translated to international success with the German national team. Bonga was a key contributor during their recent FIBA tournament runs, which included gold medals in the FIBA World Cup 2023 and EuroBasket 2025.
Bonga also talked about what it takes to play in intense environments. His time in Belgrade taught him about the emotional weight of local rivalries. That experience serves as mental preparation for the upcoming Greek derbies against Olympiacos.
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