When trying to figure out where Isaac Bonga fits into the future of the Los Angeles Lakers, one only needs to look at the bench. Or more accurately, just to the right of it.

There, on the far side of LeBron James’ throne-esque raised seat is where Bonga sits, on the floor with his knees to his chest, watching, waiting for a chance that isn’t coming any time soon.

But the Lakers didn’t select Bonga with the 39th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and give him a four-year deal with almost $2.5 million in guaranteed money with any illusions of him contributing right away. They’re planning to take it slow with Bonga, which is just fine with him, because he knows he has a lot to improve on.

“It’s actually kind of everything. I’m still working on my shot. I be lifting every day. Ball handling, passing,” Bonga told Silver Screen and Roll with his signature heavy accent that instantly reveals his German roots. “I should be doing everything right now.”

Everything but playing, that is, although the Lakers still have Bonga preparing like he’s part of the rotation. Before games he goes through shootaround just like any other player, then an intricate stretching and strengthening routine utilizing resistance bands and a medicine ball as he tries to get stronger.

Then, he watches everything — and everyone — intently as they go through the game, poring over every single movement as he tries to glean as much knowledge as he can. That’s where Bonga’s lessons will come during what will be a season of shuttling back and forth between watching Lakers games while playing scattered garbage-time minutes and playing for the South Bay Lakers, L.A.’s G League team.

As an 18-year-old millionaire in a foreign country, Bonga is also learning things far beyond basketball. How to find a place to live, or how to get around Los Angeles (he says he almost always has Google Maps on, whether he’s going to the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo, to home games at Staples Center, or just finding a restaurant).

“He’s doing what I did in college but on a much, much bigger stage and in a much, much bigger city,” Moe Wagner told Silver Screen and Roll. Wagner, Bonga’s fellow German rookie on the Lakers’ roster, went to college at Michigan before entering the NBA Draft. Bonga took a different path, playing professionally in Germany for the Fraport Skyliners, where he started 18 of his 41 games with the junior and senior teams while posting averages of 7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals.

For a teenager playing against seasoned professionals those are impressive numbers, displaying the talent that led the Lakers to select Bonga as the second-youngest player in the draft. Such production also allowed Bonga to become the youngest player to play for the German national team in 40 years.

And there have been moments when Bonga flashes his full potential, like a sequence during a recent practice in which he and Brandon Ingram combined their approximately 7-foot wingspans to trap one of their Lakers teammates during a scrimmage.

“I forget who had the ball, but the poor guy had zero chance of getting it out of there,” Lakers head coach Luke Walton recalled with a laugh. “I mean there was like 20 feet of arms all over.”

There was also the tail end of the Lakers’ preseason loss to the Clippers, in which Bonga earned some “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd by wrapping the ball all the way around his body before setting up teammate Johnathan Williams for a finger roll on a fast break, displays that have wowed some of his teammates as well.

“I was like ‘man, he got that?,” recalled Lakers guard Lance Stephenson.

The Lakers have also grown to enjoy ribbing the rookie, whether it’s Stephenson trying to get him to crack up during our interview, Ivica Zubac joking that Bonga is a center and not a point guard when Bonga is asked about playing the latter position, or JaVale McGee giving the Lakers rookies bright pink backpacks as a little light hazing. Bonga takes it all in stride, and seems to genuinely enjoy the interplay, making him all the more endearing.

But more frequent than positive glimpses of what Bonga could be have been reminders of what he is now. Most notably, Bonga failed to even shoot in the closing seconds of one of the Lakers’ preseason losses to the Denver Nuggets, instead passing the ball to Travis Wear as the buzzer sounded.

The moment led to mostly well-meaning teasing from his teammates in the postgame locker room, but Stephenson shut that down.

”He’s a rookie, and stuff like that can haunt a player, so I just told him to just be ready because in practice he hits those shots,” Stephenson told Silver Screen and Roll. “I think the next time he takes that shot, he’s going to knock it down.”

But Stephenson has seen how hard Bonga is working, catching the rookie shooting in the Lakers’ practice facility late at night, either by himself or with a friend rebounding, hours after practice was over and Stephenson was simply returning to use the ice tub. The work ethic has impressed Stephenson, a fellow second-round pick who knows how hard of an uphill battle it is for overlooked players to make their mark, and he wants to help Bonga in any way he can.

“Whenever I get a chance, like any moment, even in practice if I see something that he needs help with, I’ll always tell him,” Stephenson said. “I do little stuff like that, just to show him that we got his back.”

The whole thing has been a new experience for Bonga, who has had success at every level of basketball so far, and is an uber-competitor from a family of athletes. Bonga’s older brother Tarsis plays professional soccer in Germany, and his younger brother Joshua plays basketball, although Bonga laughs as he brags that Joshua has never beat him in one-on-one, or even scored on Bonga.

When not shutting down his brother, Bonga grew up trying to emulate Magic Johnson, who he called “a role model” for him. Now that Johnson, in his role as Lakers president of basketball operations, drafted Bonga, the young guard is excited by his idol believing in him. He also insists that despite not coming of age during Johnson’s playing career that he did try to pattern his game after the Lakers legend.

“That’s why I just try to move the ball, try to get my teammates involved in the game just like Magic,” Bonga said.

Bonga is still about as far from being Johnson as the nearly 5,000 miles his hometown of Neuwied is from Los Angeles, and maybe even further, which might be why his goals don’t include winning Rookie of the Year or any such honors. Bonga just wants to motivate and cheer teammates from the bench, help them get better by playing hard in practice and “try to win a lot of games whether I play or not.”

It may take years, but if the Lakers can mold Bonga from a 6’8 mountain of clay and combine his seven-foot wingspan, tantalizing dribbling skills and flashes of rare floor vision into a productive point guard, he could be special.

“He could be a problem in this league,” Stephenson said.

Until then, Bonga will just be waiting next to the bench, watching and preparing for his number to be called.

“I just try to do what the team is going to need from me. I just want to help the team out, play strong and see what’s going to happen after that,” Bonga said.

Christian Rivas contributed to this story. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats per NBA.com and Real GM. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.