Sacha Liam Killeya-Jones (born August 10, 1998) is an American-British 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 Surne Bilbao Basket of the Liga ACB. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

High school career

20160330 MCDAAG Sacha Killeya-Jones inbounds

Killeya-Jones grew up playing football at the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

position. As a freshman at

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 405. Students come from 28 U.S. states (plus the District of Columbi ...

in Woodberry Forest, Virginia, he played football, a year before giving up the sport in exchange for basketball, which better suited his height and build. For his final two years, Killeya-Jones transferred to

Virginia Episcopal School Virginia Episcopal School (VES) is a private, co-educational college preparatory, boarding and day school for students in grades 9 - 12, located in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. The school was first conceived in 1906 by the Reverend Rober ...

in Lynchburg, Virginia. In his senior season, he averaged 23.6 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game and led his team to a VISAA Division II state title. He was also selected to play in the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game. Killeya-Jones left high school as a consensus five-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

. He originally committed to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

before switching to

College career

As a freshman at

, Killeya-Jones played 14 games, averaging 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 6.9 minutes per game. He did not play for much of the second half of the season, logging minutes in 14 total games. In his sophomore season, he became a more frequent contributor off the bench, averaging 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per game through 34 appearances. After the season, Killeya-Jones announced that he was transferring from Kentucky. On May 15, 2018, he committed to continue his career at

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

and sit out his next season due to

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 ...

(NCAA) transfer rules. On February 28, 2019, before becoming eligible to play, Killeya-Jones left NC State to pursue a professional career.

Professional career

2019–22

In April 2019, Killeya-Jones joined Get Better Academy, a private basketball academy based in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. He played 12 games for the academy team Sparta Praha of the 1.Liga, the second-tier Czech basketball league, and averaged 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. On July 11, Killeya-Jones signed with

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

of the Basketball Bundesliga, the top-tier German league, but never played an official game with the team. For the 2019–20 season, he signed with Kalev/Cramo, an Estonian team competing in the

Latvian-Estonian Basketball League The Latvian-Estonian Basketball League is the highest professional men's club basketball league in Latvia and Estonia; it has been organised since 2018, run by the Latvian Basketball Association and the Estonian Basketball Association. History ...

and

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it ...

. He averaged 10.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the club. On July 13, 2020, Killeya-Jones signed with MKS Dąbrowa Górnicza of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English: Polish Basketball League) is a professional men's club basketball league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highest-tier level of the Polish league pyramid. The winning team of the final round are crow ...

. He averaged 19 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks per game, but left the team in January 2021. On August 23, 2021, Killeya-Jones signed with

Hapoel Gilboa Galil Hapoel Gilboa Galil ( he, הפועל גלבוע גליל) is a professional basketball club that is based in north-east Israel. The club plays its home game in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball) in a 2,250- ...

of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. In 2021–22, he led the league in scoring, averaging 18.4 points per game.

Oklahoma City Blue (2022–2023)

On October 2, 2022, Killeya-Jones signed with the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

as Sterling Brown was waived. In his first preseason game with the Thunder, he recorded one block against Vlatko Čančar. After just one preseason game, he was waived on October 4. On November 3, he was named to the opening night roster for the

Oklahoma City Blue The Oklahoma City Blue are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue play their home games at Paycom Center. The franchise began as ...

Surne Bilbao Basket (2023–present)

On June 30, 2023, Killeya-Jones signed with Surne Bilbao Basket of the Liga ACB.

National team career

Killeya-Jones, who has a British-born mother, is a

dual citizen Dual or Duals may refer to: Paired/two things * Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another ** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality *** see more cases in :Duality theories * Dual (grammatical ...

of the United States and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He represents

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at the international level. Killeya-Jones attended the team's training camp for FIBA EuroBasket 2017. He earned his first international cap against Ukraine in the Patras Tournament on 7 August 2017, but did not play, he was only 18-years-old. A few days later, Killeya-Jones saw action for the first time and scored 9 points vs Israel in a closed international test match. He played for Great Britain at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers.

References

External links

Kentucky Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Killeya-Jones, Sacha 1998 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in the Czech Republic American expatriate basketball people in Estonia American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Poland American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Basketball players from New Jersey BC Kalev/Cramo players British men's basketball players Hapoel Gilboa Galil players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Oklahoma City Blue players People from Highland Park, New Jersey Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Middlesex County, New Jersey