Saddiq Bey (born April 9, 1999) is an American 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 the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). 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 the

Villanova Wildcats The Villanova Wildcats are the athletic teams of Villanova University. They compete in the Big East (NCAA Division I) for every sport; except football and rowing where they compete in the Colonial Athletic Association (Football Championship Su ...

High school career

Bey is the son of Drewana Bey, a former high school principal who played collegiate basketball at

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

. He attended

DeMatha Catholic High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington C ...

his freshman year before transferring to

Sidwell Friends School Sidwell Friends School is a Quaker school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through high school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas W. Sidwell, its motto is ' ( en, Let the light shine out from all), al ...

. He played AAU ball with D.C. Premier. He stood 5'9 as a freshman before growing through high school. Bey averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals per game as a junior to lead Sidwell to a conference championship. He injured his ankle as a senior and missed several games. As a senior, Bey averaged 21 points and eight rebounds per game. A four-star recruit, Bey was ranked the 83rd best player in his class by

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

. Bey originally committed to

North Carolina 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 ...

on November 2, 2017. However, he asked to be released from his letter of intent in May 2018, and was denied a waiver to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. After visiting Wake Forest,

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...

, and

Vanderbilt Vanderbilt may refer to: People *Vanderbilt (surname) *Vanderbilt family Places In the United States: * Vanderbilt, California, a former gold-mining town *Vanderbilt, Michigan, a village *Vanderbilt, Nevada, a ghost town * Vanderbilt Mansion Nat ...

, he signed with Villanova on June 15. Villanova coach Jay Wright had recruited Bey earlier in high school but began targeting him after

Omari Spellman Omari Spellman (born July 21, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Anyang KGC of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats, winning a national championship in 2018. Spellman was ...

left for the NBA and a scholarship became available.

College career

In his debut versus

Morgan State Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer ...

, Bey finished with 16 points and four rebounds. In his first six games he averaged a little under 16 points per game. Bey had his first double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds on January 30, 2019 against DePaul. Villanova won the Big East Tournament to become the first team with three straight tournament titles, with Bey contributing 16 points and 10 rebounds in the 74–72 championship against

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest dioces ...

. As a freshman, Bey averaged 8.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, starting 29 of 36 games. He was named to the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

All-Freshman Team. Coming into his sophomore season, Bey was named to the

Julius Erving Award The Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate small forward. Following the success of the Bob Cousy Award which had been awarde ...

watchlist. On December 4, Bey scored 27 points to lead Villanova to an 80–69 win over

Penn Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several munic ...

. He had a career-high 33 points including eight three-pointers on January 11, 2020, to help the Wildcats to a 80–66 victory over

Georgetown Georgetown or George Town may refer to: Places Africa *George, South Africa, formerly known as Georgetown * Janjanbureh, Gambia, formerly known as Georgetown *Georgetown, Ascension Island, main settlement of the British territory of Ascension Isl ...

. Bey scored 18 points the following game in a 79–75 overtime win against DePaul. At the conclusion of the regular season, Bey was unanimously selected first-team All-Big East. Bey was named the winner of the

Robert V. Geasey Trophy The Robert V. Geasey Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding men's basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5, an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The trophy does not represent the e ...

as the top player in the

Philadelphia Big 5 The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship. The Big 5 c ...

. Bey won the Julius Erving Award at the end of the season as the nation's top small forward. Bey was the third Villanova player to win the award in the previous six seasons, following

Josh Hart Josh Hart (born March 6, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz with the 30th ...

in 2017 and

Mikal Bridges Mikal Bridges (born August 30, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats, winning national championships in 2016 ...

in 2018. He averaged 16.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game as a sophomore.

Professional career

Detroit Pistons (2020–2023)

Bey was drafted 19th overall by the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. T ...

in the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

. The following day, November 19, 2020, the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

acquired the draft rights to Bey in a three-team trade. On December 1, the Pistons announced that they had signed Bey. On February 15, 2021, Bey was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Bey would finish 4th in Rookie of the Year voting with 3 third-place votes. On January 1, 2022, Bey hit a game-winning three-pointer over two defenders in the final seconds of overtime to propel the Pistons to a 117–116 victory over the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

. Two days later, Bey scored a then career-high 34 points, along with eight rebounds, leading the Pistons to an 115–106 upset road victory over the defending champion

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

. On March 17, 2022, Bey scored a career high 51 points, along with nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals, in a 134–120 win against the Orlando Magic. On March 23, 2022, Bey set a Pistons record for the most three-pointers made in a season with 192, breaking

Allan Houston Allan Wade Houston (born April 20, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1993 to 2005. A shooting guard, Houston played nine seasons for the New York Knicks; he w ...

's previous record of 191. On January 4, 2023, Bey scored 17 points and made a buzzer-beating, game-winning three-pointer in a 122–119 win over the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

Atlanta Hawks (2023–present)

On February 9, 2023, Bey was traded to the

in a four-team trade involving the

and

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. He made his Hawks debut on February 13, recording 12 points and five rebounds in a 144–138 loss to the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

Career statistics

Regular season

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Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, 70 , , 53 , , 27.3 , , .404 , , .380 , , .844 , , 4.5 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , .2 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 33.0 , , .396 , , .346 , , .827 , , 5.4 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .2 , , 16.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 52 , , 30 , , 28.8 , , .404 , , .345 , , .861 , , 4.7 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 14.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 204 , , 165 , , 30.0 , , .400 , , .357 , , .843 , , 2.9 , , 2.0 , , .9 , , .2 , , 14.5

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Villanova , 36 , , 29 , , 29.6 , , .458 , , .374 , , .644 , , 5.1 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , .3 , , 8.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Villanova , 31 , , 31 , , 33.9 , , .477 , , .451 , , .769 , , 4.7 , , 2.4 , , .8 , , .4 , , 16.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 67 , , 60 , , 31.6 , , .469 , , .418 , , .728 , , 4.9 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .4 , , 11.9

References

External links

Villanova Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bey, Saddiq 1999 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Maryland Brooklyn Nets draft picks Detroit Pistons players People from Largo, Maryland Small forwards Sportspeople from the Washington metropolitan area Villanova Wildcats men's basketball players