Isaiah Whaley (born March 26, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the

MLP Academics Heidelberg USC Heidelberg, for sponsorship reasons named MLP Academics Heidelberg, is a professional basketball club from Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The club's men's senior team currently plays in the German first division Basketball Bundeslig ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

. He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies.

High school career

Whaley was ruled ineligible for his freshman season after transferring to

Ashbrook High School Ashbrook High School is a public high school in the Gaston County Schools public school district located in Gastonia, North Carolina. The school was the result of the merger of two former senior high schools, Holbrook Senior High and Ashley Sen ...

in Gastonia, North Carolina. As a junior, he averaged 17.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game, leading his team to the Class 3A state title game. For his senior season, he moved to Evelyn Mack Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina. He played a postgraduate season at Mt. Zion Preparatory School in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, Maryland, averaging 21 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks per game. A three-star recruit, Whaley committed to playing college basketball for UConn over offers from

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, Seton Hall, Memphis and Georgia, among others.

College career

As a freshman at UConn, Whaley averaged 2.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He suffered an ankle injury prior to his sophomore season and received limited playing time that year. As a junior, Whaley averaged six points, five rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. He averaged eight points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game as a senior, earning Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors. Whaley opted to return to UConn for a fifth year. He was held out of a game against Michigan State on November 25, 2021, after fainting the previous day during a double-overtime win over

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. Whaley was named to the American Athletic Conference's All-Academic Team for the 2018–19 season. He received his Bachelor's degree in Urban and Community Studies in May 2021 and pursued graduate studies during the 2021–22 academic year.

Professional career

Greensboro Swarm (2022–2023)

Whaley signed with the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

on June 24, 2022, on an Exhibit 10 contract. On October 6, 2022, he was waived by the Hornets. On October 23, it was announced that he had been added to the training camp roster of the Greensboro Swarm. On November 4, 2022, he was named to the opening-night roster for the Swarm.

Astros de Jalisco (2023–2023)

On April 25, 2023, Whaley signed with the Astros de Jalisco of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional and the

Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico The Basketball Circuit of the Pacific Coast ( or ''CIBACOPA'') is a basketball league based in Northwestern Mexico. As of 2018, it involves 10 clubs, primarily from northwest Mexico. The matches take place from March to June. History A league wi ...

(CIBACOPA). He helped them win the 2023 CIBACOPA league title.

MLP Academics Heidelberg (2023–2024)

Whaley played for the Academics in the 2023-2024 season. He was the team's starting center and posted per-game averages of 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 1.3 steals. He shot 33% from 3-point range, 57.3% on 2-point attempts, and 67.5% from the free throw line. In July 2024, Whaley joined the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

for the

2024 NBA Summer League The 2024 NBA Summer League (branded as '' NBA 2K25'' Summer League 2024 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vega ...

.https://www.nba.com/summer-league/2024/vegas/team/1610612742/mavericks

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", UConn , 30 , , 12 , , 13.8 , , .558 , , – , , .679 , , 2.2 , , .3 , , .4 , , 1.0 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", UConn , 23 , , 0 , , 3.6 , , .667 , , – , , .333 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .1 , , .2 , , .8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", UConn , 30 , , 6 , , 18.8 , , .540 , , – , , .733 , , 5.0 , , .6 , , .6 , , 1.5 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;", UConn , 23 , , 23 , , 27.6 , , .479 , , .348 , , .469 , , 6.2 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 2.6 , , 8.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 106 , , 41 , , 16.0 , , .518 , , .348 , , .628 , , 3.6 , , .6 , , .5 , , 1.3 , , 4.3

References

External links

UConn Huskies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whaley, Isaiah 1998 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American men's basketball players Astros de Jalisco players Basketball players from North Carolina Centers (basketball) Greensboro Swarm players Power forwards Sportspeople from Gastonia, North Carolina UConn Huskies men's basketball players USC Heidelberg players