Matt Bonner is a retired two-time NBA championship winner with the San Antonio Spurs. The power forward/central position player, who was selected by the 2003 Chicago Bulls with the 45th overall score in the NBA Draft, was known for his three-point shooting skills, which proved to be a great asset to his teams.
As a college basketball player at the University of Florida, Bonner ensured that he was another exception to the widespread belief that exceptional college athletes could not achieve or maintain the highest academic honors. He graduated with a grade point average of 3.96.
Matt Bonner Biography
Matt Bonner was born on April 5, 1980, in Concord, New Hampshire, as one of three children of Paula and Dave Bonner. Matthew Robert Bonner is one of three children of Paula and Dave Bonner. Even at a very young age, Bonner is said to have always shown an exemplary character towards his younger siblings, as he excelled in both his studies and basketball.
The young athlete led his school, Concord High School, to three national championships and was also the valedictorian of his class at his graduation. His exploits in class and in sports earned him a number of scholarships, but Bonner chose to go to the University of Florida to play for the Florida Gators men’s basketball team under coach Billy Donovan.
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During his time in Florida, Matt Bonner made sure to focus on his education, as he also played for the team. In his junior year, he averaged 15.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists and in his senior year, he scored 15.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists to be named Academic All-American of the Year for Basketball twice. He was also honored as a first-team member of the All-Southeastern Conference and named All-American of the Year for Basketball by the Associated Press in his senior year. Bonner achieved a GPA of 3.96 when he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
Matt Bonner NBA Career
After graduating college, Matt Bonner was ranked 45th in the 2003 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls but was immediately transferred to the Toronto Raptors, who sent him abroad to further improve his skills. Bonner played his first professional basketball season in the Italian league with Sicilia Messina in Messina, Sicily, where he averaged 19.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
After his impressive first year as a pro, the Raptors welcomed him for his NBA rookie season, where he averaged 7.2 points and played in all 82 regular-season games for the teams. Bonner remained with the Raptors until June 2006, when he was transferred to the San Antonio Spurs. This change proved to be a blessing in hindsight, as this year he won his first NBA championship.
Matt Bonner continued to prove to be an important part of the team, as he was known for his exceptional skills in three-point shooting. He led the league by three points in the 2010/11 season and won his second NBA championship in 2014, before retiring from the sport in January 2017.
Salary
For the 2015-16 season, which turned out to be his last year as an NBA player, Matt Bonner agreed to a one-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs worth $1.5 million. Prior to this agreement, Bonner received $1.45 million for the 2014-15 season and then an average annual salary of $3.47 million from the $13.89 million four-year contracts he signed in 2010.
Wife
Nadia Bonner is the name of the wife of Matt Bonner. The couple, introduced by a mutual friend, met during Bonner’s time in Toronto at the Raptors. Nadia worked as a hostess at Air Canada Center, the location where her husband was not yet part of the team when their parts crossed. The couple met for several years before Bonner asked his lady the question in the most romantic way. It was reported that Bonner sent Nadia on a scavenger hunt through the city of Toronto on coincidental Valentine’s Day. The last clue to the hunt led Nadia to him, and he then asked her to marry him.
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The couple exchanged vows at the Vaughn Estate in Toronto on August 1, 2008. About a year after their wedding, on June 21, 2009, the couple welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Evangeline-Vesper Lynne Bonner. On August 27, 2012, the Bonner family added a new member, a son named August Bonner.
Matt Bonner Height, Weight, and Body Stats
Matt Bonner’s height of 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m) will definitely outdo most of the players he would encounter in the NBA, but he is not the tallest in his family, as his younger brother Luke, a professional basketball player, is 7 feet 1 inch (2.16 m) tall.
The now-retired player, who found work as a studio analyst for San Antonio Spurs TV Broadcast, weighs about 235 pounds (107 kg). His other body measurement is not known.
