Kenan Sipahi (born May 26, 1995) is a Turkish professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Pınar" means "Spring" (of water), and/or "Fountain". Notable people called Pınar include: Given name * Pinar Heggernes (born 1969), Turkish-born Norwegian computer scientist * Pına ...

of the

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League ( tr, Basketbol Süper Ligi; BSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replace ...

(BSL) and the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercont ...

(BCL). The point guard descent stands at .

Early years

Kenan Sipahi was born in 1995 in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

to Celal Sipahi and Bisera Sipahi, he has Turkish background. Sipahi started playing basketball in Pristina at the age of 9 and quickly became a top-level prospect in Turkey at 15.

Professional career

He made his professional debut in the Turkish League with Tofaş Bursa during the 2010–11 season. He was already playing regularly at the age of 16. Sipahi made his breakthrough in a 2012–13 season. He played plenty of minutes in the league and

EuroChallenge FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...

. On January 15, 2013, he scored a game winning three-pointer against Khimik. He averaged 7 points and 2.7 assists in 32 league games. On September 2, 2013, he signed a three-year contract with option to extend for one season with Fenerbahçe. At the age of 19, he made the roster of Fenerbahçe in the Euroleague. In February 2014, he had season-ending injury, after breaking his arm in Turkish Cup game against

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. In his first Euroleague season with the team, he averaged 2.7 points, 1.1 assists and 1 rebound over 15 games. On September 30, 2015, he was loaned to

Karşıyaka Karşıyaka () is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey. The district extends for twelve kilometres along the northern and eastern coastline of the tip of the Gulf of İzmir. Its centre is at a distance of to the north from the traditional cen ...

for one season. Over the season, he averaged 7.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in the Turkish League, while also having career-high averages of 5.3 points and 3.7 assists in the Euroleague. On July 1, 2016, he was released from Fenerbahçe. On July 13, 2016, Sipahi signed a one-year contract with Beşiktaş. On July 18, 2017, he re-signed with Beşiktaş for two more seasons. On August 6, 2019, Sipahi signed a two-year deal with

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

club Coosur Real Betis. On July 16, 2020, he has signed with Fenerbahçe of the

Turkish Basketball Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

. On June 17, 2021, Sipahi parted ways with the Turkish club once more. On September 15, 2021, he has signed with

Casademont Zaragoza Basket Zaragoza 2002 S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Basket Zaragoza and as Casademont Zaragoza for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Zaragoza, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is th ...

of the Liga ACB. Sipahi parted ways with the team on December 10. On December 16, 2021, he has signed with Beşiktaş Icrypex of the

(BSL). On June 21, 2022, he has signed with

of the

(BSL) for as second stint after six years.

Turkish national team

Sipahi is a regular Turkish youth national team player. He helped Turkey's U-18 national team win the gold medal at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, where he was named to the

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

and All-Tournament Team, averaging 10.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists. Also he played at the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

with Turkey's men's basketball national team

Personal life

Sipahi is fluent in Turkish, Albanian, Serbian and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

languages. He married Albanian model Ilda Abazi in July 2021 in a lavish ceremony at the Ciragan Kempinski palace in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Career statistics

Euroleague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Fenerbahçe , 15 , , 8 , , 12.6 , , .517 , , .364 , , .700 , , 1.0 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , .1 , , 2.7 , , 2.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , 22 , , 11 , , 9.8 , , .318 , , .192 , , .750 , , .8 , , .7 , , .4 , , .0 , , 1.6 , , .2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 10 , , 5 , , 18.9 , , .358 , , .200 , , .688 , , 1.1 , , 3.7 , , .9 , , .0 , , 5.3 , , 6.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 47 , , 24 , , 12.6 , , .381 , , .228 , , .700 , , .9 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.8 , , 2.0

Accomplishments and awards

Individual

* 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: MVP * 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: All-Tournament Team

References

External links

Kenan Sipahi
at euroleague.net

at fiba.com
Kenan Sipahi
at tblstat.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sipahi, Kenan 1995 births Living people Basket Zaragoza players Beşiktaş men's basketball players Fenerbahçe men's basketball players Karşıyaka basketball players Kosovan expatriate basketball people in Spain Liga ACB players Point guards Real Betis Baloncesto players Sportspeople from Pristina Tofaş S.K. players Turkish expatriate basketball people in Spain Turkish men's basketball players Turkish people of Albanian descent Turkish people of Kosovan descent