Australian Jonah Bolden has signed a rookie contract with the Philadelphia 76ers off the back of his second Summer League with the team.
The power forward has inked a four-year $7 million contract to join his countryman Ben Simmons in Philadelphia, with the last two seasons including a team option, multiple sources have confirmed.
He becomes the 10th Australian currently on an NBA list.
Born in Melbourne and raised in Sydney, Bolden has played with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League since being drafted by the 76ers in 2017 with the 36th overall pick.
The former UCLA Bruin possesses the size and adaptability NBA teams covert, with the ability to play in the high and low post on offence and guard multiple positions on defense.
“I know Ben pretty well,” Bolden said. “When we were young we played against each other.”
Simmons, 20, was the 76ers’ top overall pick in last year’s draft and along with head coach Brett Brown, the former NBL and Australian Olympic men’s coach, forms a strong Aussie connection at the NBA team.
Simmons and Bolden, both born in Melbourne, also form what is becoming a formidable new generation of sons of US professional basketball players who moved to Australia to play in the NBL in the 1980s and ended up staying and raising families.
Bolden’s journey to the NBA Draft took him across the planet. He left Australia during high school and refined his basketball skills at schools in New Hampshire and Nevada before accepting a scholarship at UCLA.
But after two years he quit and signed a contract with Serbian club FMP Beograd where he was named the Adriatic League’s top prospect.
NBA teams kept a close watch on Bolden, sending scouts or coaching staff to Serbia.
Bolden will form a dynamic young group at the 76ers with Simmons, Joel Embiid, Jahil Okafor, Dario Saric, Nik Stauskas and this year’s No 1 overall pick, University of Washington point guard Markelle Fultz.
Brown said he will still use the 208cm tall Simmons as the 76ers’ top point guard, despite the addition of Fultz.
“The more we see Ben play, we have had a fantastic month of June, we are excited to use him as the primary ball carrier,” Brown said.
