With the 2024-25 Sixers season officially in the rearview mirror, the time has come to evaluate the few highs and many lows of a disastrous campaign in which the team only managed 24 wins. We will do so in "Sixers year-in-review," a series assessing each individual Sixers player's performance this year based on numbers, film and quotes, while also looking ahead to the future.
Up last: Adem Bona.
The No. 41 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Bona was expected to develop behind the scenes for much of his rookie season as the Sixers competed at an extremely high level. Instead they didn't, and Bona ended up logging 905 minutes and accelerating his development quite a bit.
Bona's growth was one of the final silver linings amid a miserable year of Sixers basketball. What stood out the most during his playing time, and what are his next steps?
SIXERS YEAR-IN-REVIEW
Joel Embiid | Guerschon Yabusele | Paul George | Jared McCain | Tyrese Maxey | Andre Drummond | Quentin Grimes | Jared Butler | Kyle Lowry | Kelly Oubre Jr. | Justin Edwards | Ricky Council IV | Eric Gordon | Lonnie Walker IV
What we learned in 2024-25
Bona is a quick learner.
This is a pretty big deal. It is embodied by Bona's growth from month to month, week to week, even game to game in his rookie season, and it is an encouraging aspect of his future. Bona has a few outlier tools that are easy to identify: his impressive frame, excellent blend of power and athleticism and a motor that just never stops. But in the NBA, those tools alone will only get a player so far.
What enables a player to maximize those traits is their mental makeup. And the number of people who emphatically vouched for Bona in that department -- from head coach Nick Nurse to teammates of Bona's who had either spent the entire season with him or just the last few months of it -- was noteworthy.
How did Bona's learning speed manifest itself during the season? When he first started receiving sporadic NBA minutes, his foul rates were predictably astronomical. By the end of the season, they were far more controllable, allowing him to play upwards of 30 minutes every night. The team had zero expectations for Bona offensively beyond screening and occasionally serving as a play finisher, but he impressed with his quick decisions as a short-roll passer, an area that will only grow more important for him in the years to come. Perhaps most importantly, Nurse felt strongly that by the end of the season, Bona's instincts as a rim protector had gotten much stronger.
Number to know
Bona blocked 3.8 shots per 100 possessions in 2024-25, fourth-best in the NBA among players with at least 400 total minutes.
While Bona's improvement in ancillary areas such as passing and scoring around the rim will be very beneficial in the long run, his theoretical run as an elite backup center in the NBA will be powered by his ability to block or alter shots around the rim, whether it be rotating as the final line of defense or as a switching big:
That is far and away Bona's greatest skill, and also the most valuable way a player of his archetype can leave their imprint on each and every game. Even when Bona is not blocking shots outright, he will be carrying with him the reputation of someone that will send a weak attempt into the third row. Drivers fear those sorts of players, whose defensive impacts are often impossible to be properly qualified.
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Important film
If Bona's shot-blocking is his signature skill, his signature trait has to be the energy he plays with. Bona displays as much effort as any player you will find, but it does not stop there. He also plays with an infectious joy and enthusiasm that rubs off on his teammates and, more importantly, the crowd. He is unafraid to let an opponent know when he pulled one over on them:
Is that just fun, or is also an asset in itself? Bona's teammates have indicated they believe it is the latter. Jared Butler, who formed a particularly dynamic partnership with Bona late in the season, was one of the many players to rave about the 22-year-old.
"I think his play is just super reflective of his personality and his energy and vibe as a person," Butler said after the Sixers' penultimate game on April 11. "...That's his energy. That's just like who he is off the court. And that's what I've been seeing behind the scenes… It's been great to see him grow. As a rookie, it's hard to do, man."
Salient soundbite
Lonnie Walker on March 30 on Bona's energy and what he has observed of him behind closed doors:
"His work ethic. The times that I'm in the gym at night, he's in the gym. We see each other every single night when we're both in the gym, and he works terrifically hard and his energy transfers onto the game, onto the court. And it's contagious. It makes everyone else want to go. Every time he's jumping for a rebound or trying to get a block and you hear him talking, you hear him running, you hear him screaming. You gotta love players like that who you know each and every game, he's going to give it 110 percent. So he's only going to continue to get better and better. I mean, he's a super athlete. His ability to run and jump, the sky's the limit for him."
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Question heading into the future
What is Bona's offensive ceiling?
Bona's offensive skillset expanded quite a bit from October to April, and it makes one wonder if there is more room for growth. Bona was a non-shooter as a rookie, but his shot mechanics are not ugly. Bona was pleased to be hovering around 70 percent from the free throw line late in the season, though a late slump dropped him to 67 percent.
Days before the Sixers' season came to an end, Nurse was asked about where Bona has made offensive strides.
"His finishing has gotten much better," Nurse said. "I think he’s figuring out a way to -- I mean, first of all, he's super quick sometimes just to dunk those in, [the ball] touches his hands and he's dunking them straight down -- but he's moving it around just enough, too… his touch has been very good, too."
The follow-up question posed to Nurse: how was Bona able to make such substantial gains during the season?
"He's worked very, very hard, right? I mean, the amount of reps and time and minutes he's put in doing all those drills to improve his skill has been a big factor for that," Nurse said. "Our player development coaches have put him through a lot and [he] has a great motor as you can see. I always say having a great motor is important day after day after day so that you can do the work to get better. And he's got one of those motors where he just doesn't come in and say, ‘Oh, I'm too tired to work today.’ He always finds a switch to flip to get into work mode and I think he's just put in a lot of time… He’s a great kid. Obviously he’s got a great personality. Very, very athletic, and I keep saying that the energy thing is one of his calling cards. I think he's done a pretty good job."
Contract information
Bona's salary for 2025-26 is actually not fully-guaranteed if he is waived before opening night, but he has done more than enough to have a firm grasp on a roster spot next season. He has two more years under contract after that, with zero guaranteed money. If Bona continues to improve, this deal will be a heck of a bargain for the Sixers:
2025-26: $1,955,377 ($977,689 guaranteed before opening night)
2026-27: $2,296,271 (non-guaranteed until one day after beginning of free agency)
20227-28: $2,486,995 (team option; non-guaranteed until one day after beginning of free agency)
MORE: Bona helped command 'basketball onboarding process' with new teammates
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