Ishmail Carzell Wainright (born September 12, 1994) is an American-Ugandan professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who last played for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He also represents the senior Ugandan national team. He played

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for the

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, as well as played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

as a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

. Wainright is the grandson of former NBA player Maurice King.

High school career

Wainright played two seasons for head coach Stu Vetter at Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland, helping the team to 19–5 record as senior in 2012–13. He earned 2013 All-MET honors after averaging 8.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 8.2 assists for Mustangs. He began his prep career at

Raytown South High School Raytown South Senior High School is a high school located in Raytown, Missouri. The school was established in 1961, and graduated its first class of seniors in 1964. As Raytown became less of a "destination-suburb" in the 1990s, the enrollment fe ...

in suburban Kansas City, where he averaged 13.6 points and 9.8 rebounds as a sophomore in 2010–11. A consensus top-75 recruit, he was ranked No. 28 in 2013 class by ESPN.com, No. 51 by Scout.com, No. 52 by Rivals.com, and No. 62 by 247Sports.com.

College career

Wainright played four seasons of basketball for the

. He averaged 5.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game as a junior. As a senior, Wainright averaged 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He was named to the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

All-Defensive Team. He played one season of football after his basketball career, playing tight end. Wainright had four catches for 34 yards and two touchdowns. After finishing his career at Baylor, Wainright joined the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

of the NFL as an undrafted free agent, but he did not make the final roster.

Professional career

Nürnberg Falcons (2018–2019)

Wainright returned to basketball and signed with Nürnberg Falcons BC on September 3, 2018. He averaged 12.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

Rasta Vechta (2019–2020)

On July 2, 2019, Wainright signed with

Rasta Vechta Sports Club Rasta Vechta is a German basketball club based in Vechta, Lower Saxony. The club plays in the ProA, the second tier of professional Basketball in Germany. Founded in 1979, the club spent the majority of its history in the lower-tie ...

. Wainright averaged 10.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assist and 1.8 steals per game.

SIG Strasbourg (2020–2021)

On June 17, 2020, he signed with

SIG Strasbourg Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket, most commonly known as SIG Basket or SIG Strasbourg, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Strasbourg. The club, founded in 1929, competes domestically in the French Pro A League, and ...

Phoenix Suns (2021–2023)

On August 7, 2021, Wainright signed a two-year, non-guaranteed deal with the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

, but was waived by the Raptors on October 17. Five days later, he signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

. Wainright later made his NBA debut on November 19 near the end of a win against 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 ...

, with him recording his first official points, rebounds, and assist two days later in a blowout win over the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

. On January 30, 2022, Wainright scored a then-season-high 10 points and put up two blocks in 20 minutes of action (including the entirety of the fourth quarter) in a 115–110 win over the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

. On April 6, he surpassed his season bests with career highs of 20 points and 8 rebounds in a close loss to the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

. On April 10, the Suns converted his deal into a standard contract. Wainright joined the Suns'

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

roster. On August 4, 2022, Wainright signed a two-way contract with the Suns. After dealing with lower back pain and then the death of his father,

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Calvin Wainright, Ishmail Wainright returned to action with the Suns on November 16, hitting a three-pointer in a 130–119 win over the defending champion

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

. On February 24, 2023, Wainwright signed a two-year, $2.5 million deal with the Suns, including a team option for the 2023–24 season. Wainwright previously operated under a two-way contract and was nearing the 50-game limit. On March 5 against the

, coach

Monty Williams Tavares Montgomery Williams (born October 8, 1971) is an American professional basketball coach and a former player and executive who is the head coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Williams played for five NBA ...

made a decision late in the third quarter to substitute starter Josh Okogie, who had missed all of his eight three-point attempts, with Wainright. Although he had not played in the game up until that point, Wainwright made a significant impact, hitting four of his five three-point attempts, helping the Suns secure a 130–126 victory. On October 19, 2023, Wainwright was waived shortly before the 2023–24 season.

Portland Trail Blazers (2023–2024)

On October 21, 2023, Wainwright was claimed off waivers by the

. Wainright made his debut with the Trail Blazers on November 14 in a loss to the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

during the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament. On January 6, 2024, he was waived by Portland.

National team career

Wainright plays for the Uganda men's national basketball team. As an American born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, he was convinced by Uganda coaches George Galanopoulous and Mike Schmitz to become a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Ugandan to help build the team and increase employment opportunities. Wainright scored 36 points and collected 13 rebounds in his national team debut in a win over in November 2020. He was on the roster during

AfroBasket 2021 FIBA AfroBasket 2021 was the 30th edition of the FIBA AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was hosted by Rwanda for the first time. It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 2 ...

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, 7 , , 0 , , 6.6 , , .333 , , .375 , , 1.000 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 112 , , 2 , , 11.8 , , .375 , , .331 , , .778 , , 1.8 , , .6 , , .5 , , .3 , , 3.4

Playoffs

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Personal life

Wainright's father, Calvin Wainright, was born under his mother Marvine Wainright and raised by Marvine and her husband Alvin Joe, while his biological father was former NBA player Maurice King, making him a half-sibling to King's other siblings. During Calvin's adult life, up until his death on October 31, 2022, he was a pastor and youth basketball coach in

. In 2020, he received the Kansas City People's Choice Awards Humanitarian Award for his work in the city. Ish learned who his grandfather from his mother's side of the family was while he was playing for Baylor, which he honored in a match against Kansas University by going under the name of Ishmail King-Wainright throughout the game. Wainright also has a younger brother named Amaad that also previously played college basketball. Amaad played basketball collegiately at

Trinity Valley Community College Trinity Valley Community College (TVCC) is a public community college based in Athens, Texas. It has four campuses serving five counties across the southeast and eastern parts of the state. About TVCC operates four campuses serving the Texas co ...

in the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

, and

Louisiana State University Shreveport Louisiana State University Shreveport (LSU Shreveport or LSUS) is a public university in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System. Initially, a two-year college, LSUS has expanded into a university with 21 ...

in the NAIA. During his only season in Kansas State, Amaad and the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

made it to the 2018 NCAA tournament, going as far as the Elite 8 in their tournament run that season.

References

External links

*
Baylor Bears bioFrom Josh Allen to Chris Paul: Ish Wainright's winding journey to the NBA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainright, Ish 1994 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American football tight ends American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kansas City, Missouri Baylor Bears football players Baylor Bears men's basketball players Naturalised basketball players Nürnberg Falcons BC players Phoenix Suns players Portland Trail Blazers players Power forwards Rip City Remix players SC Rasta Vechta players SIG Strasbourg players Ugandan men's basketball players Undrafted National Basketball Association players