Bologni Gracin Bakumanya (born July 27, 1997) is a Congolese professional basketball player for

CB Zamora Club Baloncesto Zamora, also known as Aquimisa Laboratorios for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Zamora, Castile and León that currently plays in LEB Plata, the third tier of Spanish basketball. History Founded in 1978, CB Zam ...

LEB Plata The LEB Plata is the third basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system and the second basketball division organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation. Since 2019, three teams are promoted to LEB Oro and six teams are relegated t ...

. In 2013, he arrived in the United States for the first time and attended

Pantego Christian Academy Pantego Christian Academy (PCA) is a private Christian school in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. Its main campus, the Arlington Campus, has a building at 2201 West Park Row Drive in Arlington and a high school building at 2221 West Park ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

, before returning to Europe in 2014.

Early life and career

Discovered in his native

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, the capital of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, Bakumanya started his career in Spain with Torrelodones in the summer of 2011. After playing well at the junior level throughout his two-plus year stint in Spain, he was brought to the United States in 2013 to attend a prep school. In the spring of 2013, Bakumanya was reportedly connected to St. Anthony High School in New Jersey and the

Montverde Academy Montverde Academy is a private PK–12 school in Montverde, Florida, United States. History The school was founded in 1912 as Montgomery Industrial School. The school president was Henry P. Carpenter. It underwent a major expansion in 1921, whe ...

in Florida, but ultimately enrolled at

. Before long, Bakumanya found himself back in Europe as his English simply wasn't up to par at the time. He briefly resided in Belgium before joining Antibes Sharks in 2014.

Professional career

Between 2014 and 2016, Bakumanya spent the majority of the time with Antibes Espoirs, the junior team of Antibes Sharks. In the 2015–16 season, Bakumanya averaged 14.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in 30 games with Antibes Espoirs. He also managed two games with Antibes Sharks in the

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

, with both appearances coming in December 2015. Bakumanya went undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft as an international early entry candidate. In July 2016, he joined the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

for the

2016 NBA Summer League The 2016 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. Ten teams participated in the week ...

. He appeared in two games for the Rockets, but failed to score. On September 25, 2016, he signed with the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

for training camp. He was later waived by the Suns on October 10. On October 31, he was acquired by the

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play a ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

as an affiliate player of Phoenix. He made his debut for Northern Arizona on November 18, recording five points and five rebounds in 13 minutes of action in a 92–80 win over the Salt Lake City Stars. On August 23, 2017, Bakumanya was selected by the

Wisconsin Herd The Wisconsin Herd are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and are affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Herd play their home games at Oshkosh Arena. History On June 29, 2016, it was anno ...

in the NBA G League expansion draft. On March 2, 2020, Bakumanya signed with

Ferroviário de Maputo Ferroviário may refer to sports clubs in: Angola * C.D. Ferroviário do Huambo, a football club from Huambo * Clube Ferroviário da Huíla, a football club from Lubango * Clube Ferroviário de Luanda, a football club from Luanda Brazil * Ferrovi ...

of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).} However, the season was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and he did not join Maputo. In November 2021, Bakumanya signed with

Early life and career

Professional career

See also

References

External links