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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for Kawasaki Brave Thunders of the B.League. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

High school career

20160330 MCDAAG Sacha Killeya-Jones inbounds

Killeya-Jones grew up playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

at the

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

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 391. Students come from 34 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and 36 coun ...

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 Rob ...

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

. 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 The 2016 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star game, All-star basketball game played on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at the United Center in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, home of the Chicago Bulls. The game's rosters features the best and ...

. Killeya-Jones left high school as a consensus five-star recruit. He originally committed to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

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 and sit out his next season due to

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(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 ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. 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 , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, 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 Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

, 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 and

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

. 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 language, English: Polish Basketball League), officially known as the Orlen Basket Liga due to its sponsorship by Orlen, is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. I ...

. 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 () 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-seat arena in Gan Ner. History T ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

. 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 Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

as Sterling Brown was waived. In his first preseason game with the Thunder, he recorded one block against

Vlatko Čančar Vlatko Čančar ( ; born 10 April 1997) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at , he plays primarily as a small forward. Professional career Union Olimpija (2 ...

. 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 based in Oklahoma City and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue compete in the NBA G League as members of the Western Conference. The Blue play their home games ...

Surne Bilbao Basket (2023–present)

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

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

National team career

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

dual citizen Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He represents

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

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 Middlesex County, 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 21st-century American sportsmen Virginia Episcopal School alumni Woodberry Forest School alumni Kawasaki Brave Thunders players American expatriate basketball people in Japan 21st-century British sportsmen