Sabally was born in New York City to a Gambian father and German mother. Her given name of Isatou is that of her father's sister; according to Sabally, the name is derived from that of Aisha, one of the wives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. While Gambian tradition normally calls for a family's oldest daughter to receive an aunt's name, she was so named despite not being the oldest daughter.[3] The family moved to Gambia when she was 2 years old, and then moved to Berlin when she was preparing to start school. She was discovered by a local coach as a 9-year-old at a playground and began regularly attending practices. She was the only girl on her first youth team.[4]
College career
2017–18
During her first year at Oregon, Sabally appeared in every game for the Ducks while averaging 10.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. She was named to the Pac-12 all-Freshman team and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.[1] Oregon won the Pac-12 regular-season title as well as, for the first time in school history, the Pac-12 Tournament championship. In the NCAA tournament, they advanced to the Elite Eight, where they lost to the eventual champions, Notre Dame.[5]
2018–19
In her second season, Sabally started all 38 games and was the third most efficient player in NCAA. Oregon won their second straight Pac-12 regular-season title, and made their first-ever Final Four in the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Baylor.[6] Following the season, Sabally was named to the Pac-12 team, an honorable mention All-American by the WBCA, and to the watchlist for both the Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy.[1]
2019–20
In her junior season, Sabally started in 29 games, missing three in November due to her obligations with the Germany national team.[7] However, she still played in the November 9, 2019, exhibition against the United States women's national basketball team, where her 25 points helped Oregon secure a 93-86 victory. Oregon became only the second college squad in history to beat the US national team.[8][9] Despite having one remaining season of college eligibility, Sabally announced in February 2020 that she would enter the 2020 WNBA draft; she was draft-eligible because she reached the league's minimum age of 22[a] shortly after the April draft.[11] Oregon won their third straight Pac-12 regular-season title as well as the Pac-12 Tournament championship and was ranked No. 2 with a 31-2 record when the season was prematurely ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][13] Following the season, Sabally won the Cheryl Miller Award for the best small forward in the country, was named to the watchlist for both the Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy, was named to the Pac-12 team, and was a consensus all-American (WBCA First-Team All-America, AP and USBWA Second-Team All-America). She finished her college career at No. 7 on the Oregon all-time scoring list with 1,508 career points.[1]
In her second season, Sabally missed the first six regular-season games while playing in the 2021 FIBA 3x3 Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament with Germany. Her performance after her return earned her a nomination to the 2021 WNBA All-Star Game. However, Sabally missed most of the games after the Olympic break due to nagging Achilles soreness, and she ended up playing in only 17 of 32 regular-season games.[16] The Wings made the playoffs as the seventh seed, but lost in the first round to the eventual champions, the Chicago Sky.
Sabally played in only 11 regular-season games in the 2022 WNBA season, initially missing games due to a late arrival from her season with Fenerbahçe, and later due to knee and ankle injuries.[17] The Wings finished with a .500 or better record for the first time since relocating to Dallas and made the 2022 WNBA Playoffs as the sixth seed. They faced the third-seeded Connecticut Sun in the first round of the playoffs and won their first playoff game as a franchise since 2009, but eventually lost the series 1-2. Sabally, having missed the last 13 games of the regular season, returned for the playoffs but did not start any of the games and averaged only 15 minutes off the bench.[18]
After struggling with injuries through her first three seasons, which limited her to only 44 appearances, Sabally had a breakthrough year in the 2023 WNBA season. She started 38 games, achieved career-high averages in points, rebounds, assists and steals, was named a 2023 WNBA All-Star Game starter, won the WNBA Most Improved Player Award, and finished fifth in the WNBA Most Valuable Player Award voting.[19][20] On June 11, 2023, in a game against the New York Liberty, Sabally played against her sister Nyara for the first time in their careers.[21][22] They became the fifth set of sisters to play against each other in WNBA history.[23] On June 13, 2023, she earned her first career WNBA Player of the Week honor.[24][25] On July 28, 2023, in a 90-62 win over the Washington Mystics, Sabally recorded the second triple-double in Wings franchise history (and first since relocating to Dallas) with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.[26] Sabally led the Wings to their first winning record since relocating to Dallas, earning them the fourth seed in the 2023 WNBA Playoffs. The Wings defeated the Atlanta Dream 2-0 in the first round and made their first franchise WNBA semifinal since 2009. They lost 0-3 in the semifinal to the eventual champions, the Las Vegas Aces.
With her rookie contract expiring after the 2023 season, Sabally became a restricted free agent. In January 2024, Sabally signed a one-year deal with the Wings worth $195,000, taking slightly less money than she was eligible for in order to help the team's chances.[27] However, Sabally missed the first 25 games of the 2024 WNBA season due to a shoulder injury sustained on national team duty.[28][29] Dallas, plagued with injuries to other players as well, struggled in her absence.[30] Sabally started in all 15 games for the Wings after the Olympic break and posted new career-highs in assists and three-point field goal percentage, but it was a disappointing season for the team, which finished 11th with a 9-31 record.[31]
Sabally played for the German U-20 team in the 2017 FIBA U20 Women's European Championship Division B, leading the team to gold medals and promotion to Division A. She averaged 16.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.4 steals per game, and was named MVP of the tournament.[36] In the following year's 2018 FIBA U20 Women's European Championship, she led the tournament in both points (20.7) and rebounds (10.0) per game and was named to the All-Star Five, as Germany finished 9th.[37]
In February 2024, Sabally played in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belém. She suffered a shoulder injury during the first game, a surprising victory over Serbia,[41] and did not play in the second game, a loss to Australia. She returned to the lineup for the final decisive game against Brazil, where she was named Player of the Game as Germany secured the win and qualified to the Olympic tournament for the first time.[42] Right after the qualification tournament, Sabally underwent surgery to repair her shoulder injury, ruling her out of the pre-Olympic part of the 2024 WNBA season.[28][29]
Sabally returned to play at the Paris Olympic tournament, helping the German team reach the quarterfinals in their first Olympic appearance. In the opening game of the group stage, Germany secured their first-ever Olympic win, defeating the reigning European champions Belgium 83–69, with Sabally leading her team in scoring with 17 points.[43] In the second game against Japan, Sabally scored 33 points, the eighth-highest point tally in the history of women's Olympic tournaments.[44] Sabally struggled in the quarterfinal loss to France, 71–84, shooting 2-for-10 from the field and committing 7 turnovers. Nonetheless, she was named to the All-Second Team of the tournament, averaging 18.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists over four games.[45]
According to Kelly Graves, Sabally's head coach at Oregon, she was more determined to make a difference in the world than anyone else he had coached. A Muslim, she considers Muhammad Ali to be one of her greatest inspirations. In her sophomore season at Oregon, she was one of the Pac-12's two representatives to the NCAA 2019 Leadership forum, and in her rookie WNBA season in 2020, became the only rookie to serve in a leadership role on the WNBA Social Justice Council. According to Sports Illustrated writer Erica Ayala, "her experience being biracial on three continents was a boon for the U.S.-based council hoping to speak about global racism."[3] She completed work for a bachelor's degree in social science with a minor in legal studies in August 2020, graduating in three years with honors.[48]
Sabally has also become a partner with UNICEF, and is set to become one of several WNBA players to sign endorsement deals with the beauty brand Alaffia, a company that follows a social enterprise model and provides work for over 12,000 women in another West African country, Togo.[3]
^The current collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and its players' union specifies a minimum age of draft eligibility as 20 for "international players" and 22 for other players, measured as of December 31 of the draft year. The WNBA's definition of "international players" specifically excludes those born in the US and those who have played US college basketball. US-born players are subject to the 22-year age limit even if they have never played basketball in the country.[10]
^"Article XIII, Section 1: Player Eligibility"(PDF). 2020 Women's National Basketball Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. Women's National Basketball Players Association. pp. 110–11. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
