Sagaba Konate (born March 19, 1997) is a Malian professional basketball player for BC Körmend of the Hungarian first division. He played college basketball for the West Virginia Mountaineers. A native of Bamako, he moved to the United States to play at Kennedy Catholic High School starting in his junior season. As a sophomore at West Virginia, he was named third-team All-Big 12 and made the conference All-Defensive Team.[1]
 Konate in November 2017 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 5 – Körmend | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Center / power forward | ||||||||||||||
| League | Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | March 19, 1997 Bamako, Mali | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Malian | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 118 kg (260 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Kennedy Catholic (Hermitage, Pennsylvania) | ||||||||||||||
| College | West Virginia (2016–2019) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 2019: undrafted | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2019–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Raptors 905 | ||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Zaragoza | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | PAOK Thessaloniki | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Trieste | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | ratiopharm Ulm | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Samsunspor | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–present | BC Körmend | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Stats at Basketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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High school career
editKonate, who grew up playing soccer, only started playing basketball in 2014. He credits his improvement to time spent in the weight room.[2] Jeff Kollar and his wife became Konate's legal guardians as he attended Kennedy Catholic High School.[3] At the high school level, Konate earned Player of the Year and All-State honors in Pennsylvania and was a three-star recruit entering college.[4]
College career
editAs a college player, Konate established himself as an expert shot-blocker, averaging 3.2 blocks per game in his sophomore year,[5] which was 3rd in the nation for Division I.[6] In addition, he averaged 10.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest. Konate flirted with the 2018 NBA draft, but ultimately withdrew his name and returned to West Virginia.[7] During his junior year, Konate broke the WVU all-time record for blocked shots with 191. He spent most of the season sidelined due to a knee injury. After the 2018–2019 season, Konate declared for the 2019 NBA draft foregoing his senior year.[8]
Professional career
editAfter going undrafted, Konate signed with the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association on July 23, 2019.[9] He was waived and then added to the roster of their NBA G League affiliate, the Raptors 905.[10] Konate fractured his metatarsal in the preseason but returned in January 2020.[11] He averaged 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
On August 20, 2020, Konate signed with Casademont Zaragoza of the Liga ACB.[12] On November 29, 2020, Konate announced he had signed with Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki.
On June 25, 2021, he signed with Pallacanestro Trieste of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A.[13]
On July 23, 2022, he has signed with ratiopharm Ulm of the German Basketball Bundesliga.[14]
On July 21, 2023, he signed with Samsunspor of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL).[15]
National team career
editKonate has represented the under-20 Mali national basketball team, winning a bronze medal at the 2014 FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship.[16]
Career statistics
edit| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
College
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | West Virginia | 37 | 2 | 10.9 | .564 | – | .636 | 2.8 | .3 | .4 | 1.4 | 4.1 |
| 2017–18 | West Virginia | 36 | 36 | 25.4 | .510 | – | .790 | 7.6 | .7 | .4 | 3.2 | 10.8 |
| 2018–19 | West Virginia | 8 | 7 | 24.1 | .435 | .391 | .813 | 8.0 | 1.4 | .8 | 2.8 | 13.6 |
| Career | 81 | 45 | 18.7 | .509 | .391 | .756 | 5.5 | .6 | .4 | 2.4 | 8.0 | |
References
edit- ^ Hertzel, Bob (March 5, 2018). "Carter named Big 12's top defender, joins Konate on all-defensive team". WV News. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ Feldman, Bruce (March 19, 2018). "The Art of Shot Blocking: How WVU's Sagaba Konate Became a Master of Rejection". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ White, Mike (22 December 2017). "Kennedy Catholic basketball team is talented — and controversial". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ Pellegrini, Vince (October 1, 2015). "Kennedy Catholic's Konate picks West Virginia". WKBN-TV. Archived from the original on March 24, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
- ^ "Sagaba Konate". Sports Reference. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
- ^ "NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Player Blocks Statistics - 2017-18". ESPN. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
- ^ Norlander, Matt (May 24, 2018). "Mesmerizing shot-blocker Sagaba Konate withdraws from the NBA Draft to return to West Virginia". CBS Sports. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
- ^ Farrell, Nick (April 22, 2019). "What the new NBA Draft rules mean for Sagaba Konate, WVU". West Virginia Illustrated. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ "Raptors Sign Robinson, Brissett and Konate". NBA.com press release. July 23, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
- ^ Howe, Joshua (November 5, 2019). "Canadians Ennis, Brissett highlight Raptors 905 opening day roster". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ O'Brien, Kelsea (January 2, 2020). "Healthy 905 No Match For Agua Caliente Clippers". Raptors Republic. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
- ^ Skerletic, Dario (August 20, 2020). "Casademont Zaragoza inks Sagaba Konate". Sportando. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
- ^ Carchia, Emiliano (June 25, 2021). "Sagaba Konate signs with Trieste". Sportando. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
- ^ Skerletic, Dario (July 23, 2022). "Sagaba Konate signs 2-year deal with Ratiopharm Ulm". Sportando. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
- ^ @SSBasketbol (July 21, 2023). "Welcome Sagaba Konate!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Hertzel, Bob (November 15, 2016). "Mali ball: Konate making big impact". WV News. Retrieved March 23, 2018.