Sixers Big Man Named to National Team Roster

His run in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City comes after Bona's rookie campaign, one in which he initially didn't receive much time on the court, but due to injuries, he started seeing some real opportunities.

Throughout the 58 appearances in which Bona took to the court last season, he averaged 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, managing to settle into Nick Nurse's system right behind veterans Andre Drummond and Guerschon Yabusele, as well as the aforementioned Embiid.

While some would expect Bona's participation in on-court action to be done as the upcoming season looms closer and closer by the day, it's rather the opposite, as the Sixers' second-year star is getting ready to participate in EuroBasket 2025.

As reported by Basketnews' Giorgos Kyriakidis, Bona was named to Turkey's roster for the upcoming competition. Despite being born in Lago, Nigeria, the Sixers' center has represented Turkey since 2016, having moved there at the age of 13 to play professionally with a team in Istanbul.

The 22-year-old will join the likes of the Houston Rockets' Alperen Sengun, as well as former Sixers' sharpshooter Furkan Korkmaz, for the competition. Korkmaz spent seven seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, averaging 6.8 points across his 328 appearances.

It won't be the first time that Bona and the Rockets' superstar have shared the court together at the international level, having both been a part of Turkey's roster during the 2019 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, with the pair finishing runners-up to Spain.

What Does Turkey's Schedule Look Like?

While the Turkish national team will take to the court for a series of pre-tournament friendlies beginning on August 7, the official EuroBasket slate of games goes as follows.

Through this set of group stage games, Bona and Tukey will take on some NBA-level talent in players such as Davis Bertans, Kristaps Porzingis, Neemias Queta, Nikola Jokic, as well as former Sixers' talents Vasilije Micic and Filip Petrusev.

The tournament concludes in mid-September, which means that it shouldn't interfere with any preseason plans that the Sixers have in mind, given that they are set to play the New York Knicks in early October as a part of the NBA Abu Dhabi Games.