PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns forward Ish Wainright will be playing overseas next season, as he signed a two-year contract with Hapoel Tel Aviv BC in Israel.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The team announced the signing on social media.
איש וויינרייט חתם בהפועל "שלמה" תל אביב לשתי העונות הקרובות!
ווינרייט, 29, 1.98, שמשחק בעמדות 3 ו-4, רשם בשלוש העונות האחרונות כ-130 הופעות ב-NBA, בעיקר בפיניקס סאנס, ובמהלכן שיחק גם תקופה קצרה בליגת הפיתוח.
הפורוורד האמריקני שיחק לפני כן בשטרסבורג הצרפתית שם העמיד ממוצעים של… pic.twitter.com/BX2zR7d0G3
— Hapoel Tel Aviv BC (@HapoelTLVBC) July 10, 2024
Wainright has spent parts of the last three seasons on the Suns’ roster.
Phoenix waived Wainright before this past season and hoped to bring him back on a two-way contract, but the Portland Trail Blazers signed him instead. However, the Blazers waived Wainright on Jan. 6 after he only played seven games for them. He then agreed to a two-way deal to re-join Phoenix in March, but only appeared in four games with the Suns.
Even though he didn’t play many minutes per game during his time before the Suns, Wainright, a former NFL player, became a fan-favorite in Phoenix since joining the team in the 2021-22 season, when he played in 45 total games for the Suns, who were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
The 29-year-old, 6-foot-5 forward then averaged 4.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per game in the 2022-23 season, playing in 60 games total for the year.
Since Wainright played in three seasons with the Suns, he became ineligible to re-sign a two-way contract with the team.
Before his NBA career, Wainright played two seasons of overseas basketball with Strasbourg in France and Rasta Vechta in Germany after four seasons of basketball at Baylor and a transition to football for his final year in 2017-18. After his two years overseas, the Toronto Raptors offered him a spot on the training camp roster in 2021, but he did not ultimately end up making the team, and the Suns signed him shortly after.
Now, Wainright will move back overseas as he looks to rejuvenate his basketball career.
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
