What Is Satou Sabally’s Ethnicity? Unfolding Dallas Wings’ Star’s Diverse Family Background

The new season of WNBA is just a few hours away. While all eyes are circling around Caitlin Clark’s professional debut, let’s not forget that the home team has a handful of players who are no less. Amidst those is the No.0 of the Dallas Wings, Satou Sabally. The 6′ 4″ forward has been an essential part of their locker room for quite some time. 

Sabally has carved quite a reputation for herself in the WNBA ever since she was picked second in the 2020 drafts. However, her path to stardom involves a lot of struggle. A glimpse of that can traced to the diverse ethnic upbringing she had as a child.

The Roots of Satou Sabally

Although the small forward was born in New York, none of her parents are American. As it turns out, her mother hails from Germany while her father is of Gambian origin. The name given to her which was pronounced “Isatou” was that of her aunt. Moreover, it was derived from the Islamic name Aisha and according to the tradition, the eldest daughter in the family takes one’s father’s sister’s name. So, her family thought it would be fitting to do it. 

Following this, at the age of two, her family decided to go to Gambia. A year later, just when she was about to start school, there was another migration that happened and this time it was towards Berlin.

It was in this country that Sabally started to develop her basketball skills which later transformed her into a phenomenal athlete.

Sabally’s basketball story

The love for basketball didn’t take long for this young girl to reach its peak. Seemingly, at the age of nine, her talent was discovered on a playground by a basketball coach. Soon after, he honed them to perfection and made her the sole girl in her first youth team. She elaborated on this experience in an interview a while back by saying, “At first, I just wanted to have fun and win all the games. So, the further I got, and then it was being a German Champion, you know when you’re like under 14, you get drafted to the national team. And I found out who [the] good players are in Germany and where they go after a while. And some would go in like the first Division.”

After spending some valuable amount of time in the local teams in Berlin, her advent to the limelight began when she was 19 and moved to Oregon to realize her basketball dreams. 

Satou Sabally started to reflect on what she was capable of as a freshman when she grabbed the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. In addition to this, she also won an honorary mention in the Pac-12 All-Freshman team. Carrying on the tradition of being in the starting line for the Ducks, the No.0 featured in all 38 games. Consequently, her impeccable performances resulted in her making it to the Pac-12 team and the watchlist of the Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy. Further, Sabally also ended up winning the Cheryl Miller Award as small forward of the year. 

After two successful years, it was time for her to find out why her teammates gave her the nickname the Unicorn.

Satou Sabally’s professional resume

The Dallas Wings became the home for this young and energetic baller. After being the first-round pick for 3 x WNBA champions, it didn’t take long for Sabally to put on her big girl shoes and show the world what she brings to the table. In just 16 games, she stacked up an average of 13.9 points and 7.9 rebounds. As a result, she was included in the 2020 AP All-Rookie team. After this, a reasonable second season made way for her in the 2021 WNBA All-Star Game. However, her breakthrough year appeared in 2023 when she took part in every one of the 38 games. Garnering an average of 18.6 points and 8.1 rebounds along with 4.4 assists resulted in her getting the 2023 WNBA Most Improved Player. On top of that, she also went on to win last year’s EuroLeague title.

The expectations will be high of her from the franchise this time around. With the inclusion of fresh faces like Jacy Sheldon, her experience becomes more essential for the locker room. It will be an enthralling experience for the fans to witness her repeat what she did in her previous season.