Satou Sabally
Isatou "Satou" Sabally (born 25 April 1998) is a German-American professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Super League (KBSL). She played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks.[1][2] Despite having one remaining season of college eligibility, Sabally announced in February 2020 that she would enter the 2020 WNBA draft; she was draft-eligible because she reached the league's minimum age of 22[lower-alpha 1] shortly after the April draft.[4]
 Sabally with the Dallas Wings in 2021 | |
| No. 0 – Dallas Wings | |
|---|---|
| Position | Small forward |
| League | WNBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | April 25, 1998 New York City, New York |
| Nationality | German• Gambian •American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 175 lb (79 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Rotteck Gymnasium (Freiburg, Germany) |
| College | Oregon (2017–2020) |
| WNBA draft | 2020: 1st round, 2nd overall pick |
| Selected by the Dallas Wings | |
| Playing career | 2020–present |
| Career history | |
| 2020–present | Dallas Wings |
| 2020–present | Fenerbahçe |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Early life
Sabally was born in New York City to a Gambian father and German mother. Her given name of Isatou is that of her father's sister; according to Sabally, the name is derived from that of Aisha, one of the wives of Islamic prophet Muhammad. While Gambian tradition normally calls for a family's oldest daughter to receive an aunt's name, she was so named despite not being the oldest daughter.[5] The family moved to Gambia when she was 2 years old, and then moved to Berlin when she was preparing to start school. She was discovered by a local coach as a 9-year-old at a playground and began regularly attending practices. She was the only girl on her first youth team.[6]
College career
Professional career
WNBA
In her rookie season, Sabally was named to the 2020 AP All-Rookie team. In her second season, she was named to the 2021 WNBA All-Star Game.
Overseas
She signed with Fenerbahçe for the 2020–21 season. After the undefeated championship in the Turkish Super League and finishing third in the EuroLeague, she extended her contract with Fenerbahçe for one more year.[7]
WNBA career statistics
National team
Sabally played for the Germany women's national 3x3 team at the 2019 European Games in Minsk.[8]
Personal life and activism
According to Kelly Graves, Sabally's head coach at Oregon, she was more determined to make a difference in the world than anyone else he had coached. A Muslim, she considers Muhammad Ali to be one of her greatest inspirations. In her sophomore season at Oregon, she was one of the Pac-12's two representatives to the NCAA 2019 Leadership forum, and in her rookie WNBA season in 2020, became the only rookie to serve in a leadership role on the WNBA Social Justice Council. According to Sports Illustrated writer Erica Ayala, "her experience being biracial on three continents was a boon for the U.S.-based council hoping to speak about global racism."[5] She completed work for a bachelor's degree in social science with a minor in legal studies in August 2020, graduating in three years with honors.[9]
Sabally has also become a partner with UNICEF, and is set to become one of several WNBA players to sign endorsement deals with the beauty brand Alaffia, a company that follows a social enterprise model and provides work for over 12,000 women in another West African country, Togo.[5]
Satou's sister, Nyara, was drafted fifth overall by the New York Liberty in the 2022 WNBA draft.[10]
Footnotes
- The current collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and its players' union specifies a minimum age of draft eligibility as 20 for "international players" and 22 for other players, measured as of December 31 of the draft year. The WNBA's definition of "international players" specifically excludes those born in the US and those who have played US college basketball. US-born players are subject to the 22-year age limit even if they have never played basketball in the country.[3]
References
- "Satou Sabally - Women's Basketball". University of Oregon Athletics. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- Allen, Jim (March 25, 2018). "Success isn't foreign to Oregon freshman Satou Sabally of Germany". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, WA. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- "Article XIII, Section 1: Player Eligibility" (PDF). 2020 Women's National Basketball Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. Women's National Basketball Players Association. pp. 110–11. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
- Rowe, Holly (February 20, 2020). "Oregon junior Satou Sabally to enter WNBA draft after season". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- Ayala, Erica (August 27, 2020). "Satou Sabally Is a Unicorn". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
- Spears, Marc J. (April 17, 2020). "The WNBA is getting more than a star in Satou Sabally". Andscape. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- "Tuğçe Canıtez, Olcay Çakır Turgut, Satou Sabally, Kiah Stokes ve Jasmine Thomas'ın sözleşmeleri yenilendi". fenerbahce.org (in Turkish). July 10, 2021.
- How women's basketball star Sabally fell in love with 3x3 FIBA, 22 January 2021. Accessed 30 April 2021.
- Negley, Cassandra (September 10, 2020). "Rookie Satou Sabally soaks it all in as WNBA's future face of social justice work". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- Staley, Antwan (11 April 2022). "New York Liberty selects Oregon's Nyara Sabally in the 2022 WNBA Draft". The Register-Guard. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com