Lakers Recall Rookie Isaac Bonga From South Bay

Matthew Moreno
2 Min Read
Adam Pantozzi-NBAE via Getty Images

The Los Angeles Lakers recalled Isaac Bonga from their G League affiliate, South Bay Lakers. Bonga presumably will be with the parent team for the two-game road trip this weekend that calls for back-to-back games with the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies.

His joining the Lakers appears to be in response to Brandon Ingram suffering a sprained left ankle in the first quarter of Wednesday’s comeback victory. Ingrams sustained the injury when he went up for a jump shot and landed on LaMarcus Aldrdige’s foot.

He immediately grabbed at his ankle and remained down on the floor before shooting the free throw on what was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul. Ingram then checked out of the game and went back to the locker room.

The Lakers initially deemed him questionable to return against the Spurs and at halftime ruled him out. Lakers head coach Luke Walton did not have an update on his status immediately after the win.

“We’ll re-evaluate him. There’s not timetable or anything like that,” Walton said. “He said he got him pretty good.”

Walton added that if Ingram is to miss any time, he likely would begin to stagger Lonzo Ball and LeBron James to help assume point-guard duties with the second unit and ensure at least one of them is on the court at most times. Bonga averaged 14.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 28.5 minutes over 12 games with South Bay.

Despite the strong showing, he likely is only an emergency option for the Lakers. They may soon see the return of Rajon Rondo, who was recently cleared for contact progression and twice has been a full participant in practice.

Matthew Moreno is a journalist from Whittier, Calif., who is a credentialed reporter and is currently the Managing Editor of DodgerBlue.com and LakersNation.com. In addition to covering Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angels Lakers games, Matthew has a strong passion for keeping up to date with the sneakerhead culture. It began with Michael Jordan and Air Jordan shoes, and has carried over to Kobe Bryant's signature line with Nike. Matthew previously was the lead editor and digital strategist at Dodgers Nation, and the co-editor and lead writer at Reign of Troy, where he covered USC Trojans Football. Matthew graduated from California State Long Beach University with a major in journalism and minor in communications. Contact: matt@mediumlargela.com