Sani Sakakini ( ar, سني سكاكيني; born August 19, 1988) is a Palestinian professional basketball player. He ranks second all-time highest in the FIBA Asia Championship in scoring average, after the 2015 edition where he ranked first in scoring and rebounds (22.4 PPG and 12.6 RPG in 8 games).

Professional career

Sakakini started playing basketball at the age of 14 in the Sarriyet Ramallah club. His international career started in 2007 after he went to Applied Science University in Jordan and joined the Jordanian Premier League playing three seasons for Al Riyadi Amman. He came back to the league in 2015 to play one season with

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

and help the team win the title. In 2011, Sakakini started in the minor NBL league with Guangzhou Free Man before playing in the main CBA league for four seasons with

Qingdao Eagles The Qingdao Guoxin Haitian Eagle Club, also known as Qingdao Daily Fresh or Qingdao Eagles are a Chinese professional basketball team which is based in Qingdao, Shandong. The club plays in the North Division of the Chinese Basketball Association ...

, Jiangsu Monkey King and

Tianjin Gold Lions The Tianjin Ronggang Pioneers () or Tianjin Ronggang or Tianjin Pioneers are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Tianjin, which plays in the Northern Division of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). The Ronggang Import & Export Tr ...

. He started 115 games for 126 appearances, averaging 19.3 PPG and 12.5 RPG. Sakakini played a few games in 2013 in the PBBA league for Sarriyet Ramallah and helped the team win the championship. He also played a few games in 2014 and 2016 in the LBL league for Hoops Club and

Champville SC Champville SC ( ar, نادي الشانفيل الرياضي) is a Lebanese basketball team from Dik El Mehdi, Lebanon, which competes in the Lebanese Basketball League. History In Game 4 of the 2011–2012 Finals, Champville defeated Anibal Z ...

. He started 17 games out of 17 appearances, averaging 18.4 PPG and 10.6 RPG. For the 2017-2018 season, Sakakini joined the LPB league playing for the

Trotamundos de Carabobo Trotamundos B.B.C. (), also known as Trotamundos de Carabobo, is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, located in the Venezuelan Carabobo State. The team currently plays in the Venezuelan SuperLiga. The team has won the Venezuelan champ ...

. On August 29, 2021, Sakakini officially joined the

Taichung Suns The Taichung Suns ( zh, 臺中太陽) are a Taiwanese professional basketball team based in Taichung City, Taiwan. They compete in the T1 League since the 2021–22 season, and play their home game at the National Taiwan University of Sport Gymna ...

of the

T1 League The T1 League is a Taiwanese men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. It is the third professional basketball league in Taiwan after the Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA) and the P. League+ (PLG). In the 2022–23 season, the T ...

in Taiwan. On July 2, 2022, Sakakini was selected to the all-T1 League first team in 2021–22 season.

Palestinian National Team

Sakakini joined the

Palestine national basketball team The Men's national basketball team of Palestine represents Palestine in international basketball competitions. It is managed by the Palestinian Basketball Federation. The team won a bronze medal in the 1964 FIBA Africa Championship for men. Also ...

in 2006. He contributed in rebuilding the Palestine national basketball team with coach Jerry Steele and recruiting players such as former

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

guard

Jamal Abu-Shamala Jamal Abu-Shamala ( ar, جمال أبو شمالة; born July 25, 1987) is a Palestinian-American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Abu-Shamala played in the NBA Development League for t ...

. This led to the team's first ever qualification to the FIBA Asia Championship in 2015. In August 2021, Sakakini has announced his retirement from international basketball. The announcement came after his Palestinian team got two consecutive losses at the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers, dropping them from the tournament.

Career statistics

Statistics from FIBA, CBA, REAL GM, EUROBASKET, SBL.

Regular season

, 2011 , , Guangzhou Free Man , , NBL , , 20 , , , , 54.2 , , 25.0 , , 67.5 , , 9.8 , , , , 1.1 , , , , 14.5 , - , 2011-2012 , ,

Qingdao DoubleStar The Qingdao Guoxin Haitian Eagle Club, also known as Qingdao Daily Fresh or Qingdao Eagles are a Chinese professional basketball team which is based in Qingdao, Shandong. The club plays in the North Division of the Chinese Basketball Association ...

, , CBA , , 31 , , 27.3 , , 51.6 , , 16.7 , , 67.4 , , 8.2 , , 1.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 10.5 , - , 2013 , , Al Riyadi Amman , , JPL , , 18 , , , , , , , , , , 11.8 , , 2.6 , , 1.2 , , , , 23.9 , - , 2013 , , Sarriyet Ramallah , , PBBA , , 8 , , , , , , , , , , 15.7 , , 3.0 , , 3.6 , , 2.3 , , 32.7 , - , 2013-2014 , ,

, , CBA , , 29 , , 39.4 , , 51.7 , , 20.8 , , 75.6 , , 13.8 , , 2.2 , , 1.5 , , 0.4 , , 18.9 , - , 2014 , , Hoops Club , , LBL , , 9 , , 39.2 , , 42.3 , , 22.2 , , 74.1 , , 11.9 , , 2.7 , , 2.0 , , 0.6 , , 20.4 , - , 2015-2016 , , Jiangsu Tongxi , , CBA , , 30 , , 42.6 , , 46.2 , , 20.5 , , 76.3 , , 14.7 , , 2.4 , , 1.7 , , 0.4 , , 23.2 , - , 2016 , ,

, , LBL , , 8 , , 31.4 , , 47.2 , , 00.0 , , 78.4 , , 9.1 , , 1.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.1 , , 16.1 , - , 2016-2017 , , Tianjin Ronggang , , CBA , , 35 , , 41.2 , , 54.5 , , 33.7 , , 79.6 , , 13.3 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 24.0 , - , 2017-2018 , ,

Guangzhou Long-Lions The Guangzhou Loong Lions () are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. They play in the Southern Division of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). History The team was founded in November 2000 as Shaanxi Gait ...

, , CBA , , 37 , , 40.1 , , 52.4 , , 32.3 , , 85.4 , , 11.7 , , 2.2 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 21.2 , - , 2018-2019 , ,

Yulon Luxgen Dinos The Yulon Luxgen Dinos are a basketball team in the Super Basketball League in Taiwan. It was founded in 1965 by Yulon Motor's (or the Taiwanese Car Manufacturer Luxgen) Chairman as a First Division amateur basketball team. It has also been membe ...

, , SBL , , 22 , , 31.8 , , 47.6 , , 26.9 , , 79.8 , , 13.6 , , 2.5 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 23.6

International tournaments

, 2015 , , Palestine , , FIBA Asia Championship , , 8 , , 35.9 , , .407 , , .205 , , .682 , , style="background-color:#cfecec", 12.6 , , 2.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.3 , , style="background-color:#cfecec", 22.4

Career highs

Sakakini scored a season high 48 points and 22 rebounds on 11/11/2015 in a 111-101 win of Jiangsu Monkey King over

Controversies

Sakakini was accused of bullying and physical harm towards his classmates for years in a systematic behavior. He led these actions and used physical strength to induce physical and psychological trauma. The accusations remain uncontested.

Off the court

Sani Sakakini is married to Rubi Habash, point guard of Jordan's Women National Basketball Team. He is the son of George Sakakini, former basketball player and coach, and elder brother of Salim Sakakini which also plays in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakakini, Sani 1988 births Living people Basketball players at the 2006 Asian Games Basketball players at the 2014 Asian Games Beijing Royal Fighters players Guangzhou Loong Lions players Palestinian men's basketball players Trotamundos B.B.C. players Asian Games competitors for Palestine Forwards (basketball) Expatriate basketball people in Taiwan Taichung Wagor Suns players Yulon Luxgen Dinos players People from Ramallah Super Basketball League imports Kuwait SC basketball players