Matt Bonner

Bonner with theSan Antonio Spurs in 2010
Personal information
Born	(1980-04-05)April 5, 1980 (age 45) Concord, New Hampshire, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High school	Concord (Concord, New Hampshire)
College	Florida (1999–2003)
NBA draft	2003: 2nd round, 45th overall pick
Drafted by	Chicago Bulls
Playing career	2003–2016
Position	Power forward /center
Number	16, 15
Career history
2003–2004	Pallacanestro Messina
2004–2006	Toronto Raptors
2006–2016	San Antonio Spurs
Career highlights
2×NBA champion (2007,2014) 2×AP honorable mentionAll-American (2002,2003) 2×Academic All-American (2002,2003) First-team All-SEC (2003) Second-team All-SEC (2002) Third-team All-SEC (2001) Fourth-teamParade All-American (1999) Mr. New Hampshire Basketball (1999)
Career statistics
Points	4,632 (5.8 ppg)
Rebounds	1,749 (3.0 rpg)
Assists	552 (0.7 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats atBasketball Reference

Matthew Robert Bonner (born April 5, 1980), also known as theRed Rocket orRed Mamba, is an American former professionalbasketball player. Bonner playedcollege basketball for theUniversity of Florida before being selected by theChicago Bulls with the 45th overall pick in the2003 NBA draft. During his career Bonner played for theToronto Raptors and theSan Antonio Spurs with whom he won two NBA championships. He is the only player in NBA history to be born inNew Hampshire.

Born inConcord, New Hampshire, Bonner attendedConcord High School, where he helped lead them to three state championships.^[1] Bonner was also theValedictorian of his graduating class.^[2]

Bonner accepted an athletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida, where he played for coachBilly Donovan'sFlorida Gators men's basketball team from 1999 to 2003. In his four seasons, he amassed 1,570 points, 778 rebounds and 165 three-point field goals. As a senior in 2003, he was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and an Associated Press honorable mentionAll-American.

Bonner graduated with abachelor's degree, with high honors, inbusiness administration and a 3.96grade point average (GPA). He wonAcademic All-American of the Year for the sport of basketball in both 2002 and 2003.^[3]

Bonner was selected with the 45th overall pick in the2003 NBA draft by theChicago Bulls but was then traded to the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors did not have a roster spot available at the time and asked Bonner to play overseas and hone his skills with a verbal promise to make the team the following season.

Bonner signed withSicilia Messina of theItalian league inMessina,Sicily. Sicilia filed forbankruptcy in the middle of the season and stopped paying its players. Many players left the team but Bonner continued to play and finished the year averaging 19.2 points and 9.3 rebounds.

In September 2004, Bonner signed a one-year deal with theToronto Raptors. On December 15, 2004, Bonner was ejected during a game against theMinnesota Timberwolves after attempting to block aKevin Garnett shot attempt, with Raptors fans giving him a standing ovation, chanting his name and high-fiving him on his way out.^[4][5] In 2004–05, he played in all 82 regular season games and averaged 7.2 points. He remains the only Raptors rookie to play all 82 games in a season.^[6]

In August 2005, Bonner re-signed with the Raptors on a two-year deal.^[7]

On June 21, 2006, Bonner was traded withEric Williams and a second round draft pick to theSan Antonio Spurs forRasho Nesterović and cash considerations. In his first season with the Spurs, he averaged 4.9 points in just 11.7 minutes per game, both of which were career lows for Bonner at that time.^[8] The team went on to win the NBA championship that season.

In July 2007, Bonner re-signed with the Spurs on a three-year deal. On December 11, 2007, in a loss to theGolden State Warriors, Bonner recorded season-highs of 25 points and 17 rebounds.^[9]

On December 7, 2009, Bonner scored a career high 28 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in a 104–101 loss to theUtah Jazz.^[10]

In July 2010, Bonner again re-signed with the Spurs on a multi-year deal. He went on to lead the NBA in three-point field goal percentage for2010–11 after he shot 45.7%.^[11]

In 2011, Bonner starred inFundamentals of the Game with Coach B, a comedy web series hosted on the Spurs' official website.^[12]

After asocial media campaign from his brotherLuke, Bonner participated in the 2013 NBAThree-Point Shootout duringAll-Star Weekend. He recorded a score of 19 in the first round to knock outRyan Anderson (18) andStephen Curry (17) and advanced to the final where he lost 20–23 toKyrie Irving. Later that year, Bonner and the Spurs reached theNBA Finals where they lost to theMiami Heat in seven games.

On June 15, 2014, Bonner won his second NBA championship after the Spurs defeated the Miami Heat 4–1 in the2014 NBA Finals. On July 21, 2014, Bonner re-signed with the Spurs,^[13]

On July 15, 2015, Bonner again re-signed with the Spurs.^[14] Bonner's final NBA game was played on April 13, 2016, in a 96–91 win over theDallas Mavericks where he recorded 6 points,1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 block.

He announced his retirement on January 6, 2017.^[15][16] On January 12, 2017, the Spurs jokingly "retired" Bonner's iconic flannel shirt in a locker room ceremony.^[17]

• 2013–14 NBA champion
• 2006–07 NBA champion
• 2010–11 NBA three-point field-goal percentage leader
• 2002–03 Honorable Mention All-American
• 2001–02 Honorable Mention All-American
• 2002–03 Academic All-American of the Year
• 2001–02 Academic All-American of the Year
• 2002–03 All-SEC First Team
• 2001–02 All-SEC Second Team
• 2000–01 All-SEC Third Team
• 2002–03 SEC three-point field-goal percentage leader
• 2002–03 All-SEC Academic
• 2001–02 All-SEC Academic
• 2000–01 All-SEC Academic
• 1998–99 NHIAA Champions – Concord HS
• 1997–98 NHIAA Champions – Concord HS
• 1996–97 NHIAA Champions – Concord HS

After retiring from professional basketball, Bonner joined the San Antonio Spurs TV Broadcast as a studio analyst.^[18]Bonner now works as an analyst on Sportsnet for Raptors games.

Bonner and his ex-wife have one daughter, Evangeline-Vesper Lynne Bonner (born June 21, 2009) and one son, August Bonner (born August 27, 2012).

He has a younger brother,Luke, who was also a professional basketball player. Luke served as Matt'sbest man at his wedding.^[19]

Bonner applied forCanadian citizenship in February 2009, but did not qualify, due to the amount of time he spent outside the country.^[20]

Bonner is asandwich enthusiast. He has ablog titled "The Sandwich Hunter: The Quest for the Hoagie Grail" in which he documents his search for the "world's best sandwich."^[21] He is also a fan of the sport ofcurling, due to discovering it on Canadian television during his tenure with the Toronto Raptors.^[22]

During his tenure with the Toronto Raptors, he received thenickname the "Red Rocket" for his red hair and constant use of the public transit in Toronto, theToronto Transit Commission, whose slogan is "Ride the Rocket."

Kobe Bryant coined Bonner's other nickname, the "Red Mamba", onTwitter while live-tweeting in 2013 during a televised replay of his 81-point game against Bonner and the Toronto Raptors.^[23]

He was well known for being the lone NBA player wearingNew Balance shoes,^[24] even though he did not have a proper sponsorship deal with the brand. He said in an interview that a friend, who was a New Balance representative, was the one who provided him with a few dozen pairs of shoes. A few years later, after wearing out all the shoes, and New Balance being out of the basketball sneaker market, Bonner finally signed his first basketball shoe deal withAdidas in January 2014 with the use of the Nice Kicks Twitter account.^[25]

Bonner and his brother Luke run anonprofit organization called theRock On Foundation, in which they look to support community involvement inarts andathletics.^[26]

In March 2016, Bonner was featured on the season-premiere episode ofFYI'sTiny House Nation, where he and his wife Nadia had a 276-sq.-foot house custom-built.^[27]

Bonner now works as an analyst on Sportsnet for Raptors games.

• List of National Basketball Association career 3-point field goal percentage leaders
• List of Florida Gators in the NBA
• List of University of Florida alumni

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMatt Bonner.

• Career statistics fromNBA.com · Basketball Reference

• 1980 births
• Living people
• American expatriate basketball people in Canada
• American expatriate basketball people in Italy
• American men's basketball players
• American people of Canadian descent
• Sportspeople of Canadian descent
• Basketball players from New Hampshire
• Centers (basketball)
• Chicago Bulls draft picks
• Florida Gators men's basketball players
• Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
• Power forwards
• San Antonio Spurs players
• Sportspeople from Concord, New Hampshire
• Toronto Raptors players

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2019
• Commons category link from Wikidata