The Los Angeles Lakers confirmed a Hungarian player – Valerio-Bodon Vincent from Sopron became one of the world stars
What a day Hungary woke up to! News from Los Angeles shook the country, because after many years, a Hungarian basketball player was confirmed for the NBA again. After Dávid Kornél, Valerio-Bodon Vincent from Sopron got the opportunity that does not come very often, which means: he will be able to spread his wings alongside Lebron James.
The player of Dominican origin, who most recently played basketball in Sopron, was previously tried out by the Boston Celtics during a summer league, but he failed to win a player contract there. And last year, he spent the summer again with the Lakers team, which resulted in a G-League contract. G-Leuge is the branch league of the NBA, where the Hungarian player performed so well in the South Bay Lakers that the big contract did not take long. Last season, he averaged 6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 25 games, his personal best was 19 points against Santa Cruz on March 27. It is likely that the performance shown here was of such a high standard that the Hungarian player was not kept waiting even with the big contract.
Valerio-Bodon Vincent earned a contract with the legendary team with a fantastic performance Photo: Facebook page of Bodon Vincent
The 207-centimeter Valerio-Bodon played in Hungary until his American adventures. From 2019 to 2023, he played in a total of 83 matches for Budapesti Honvéd, Atomerömű, DEAC and Sopron. Until now, there has been only one Hungarian basketball player in the NBA in the person of Kornél Dávid, who played in 109 games between 1999 and 2001 for the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons. In 2011, Ádám Hanga was the first Hungarian to be selected in the amateur market (draft), but in the end he did not play for the San Antonio Spurs.
