Wainright saw an uptick in playing time during his sophomore season, averaging 4.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.6 steals in 15.3 minutes per night. However, the Suns have added plenty of depth during the offseason, something that is likely to impact Wainright's opportunities moving forward. The arrival of Keita Bates-Diop in particular makes things tricky for Wainright, with Bates-Diop providing more upside on both ends of the floor. Given his playing time could end up being closer to 10 minutes per night, he is not worth drafting in most fantasy formats. Read Past Outlooks
$Signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Suns in March of 2024.
Personal Bio/PreCareer Summary
Ishmail Carzell Wainright was born in September of 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. He is the son of Calvin Wainright and Mary Mills and is the grandson of former professional basketball player Maurice King who spent time playing in the NBA, Eastern Professional Basketball League and the American Basketball League from 1959 to 1963. Wainright played his first two seasons of prep high school basketball at Raytown South High School where he averaged 13.6 points and 9.8 rebounds as a sophomore. He then transferred to Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland where he played for legendary high school head coach Stu Vetter and averaged 8.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.2 assists as a senior. In 2013, he committed to play college basketball for Baylor and started the first seven games of his freshman year before being relegated to a reserve role. He would average just over nine minutes and fewer than two points and rebounds per game during his first two seasons. Wainright made a larger all-around impact while starting in all 34 games in both of his next two seasons as he averaged 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals and was named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team in his senior season. With his college basketball career over, Wainright decided to switch sports at Baylor and played tight end for one season on the school's football team, finishing with four catches for 34 yards and two touchdowns. He then signed as an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills of the NFL but did not make the team's final roster. In September of 2018, Wainright picked his basketball career back up and signed a contract to play with Nürnberg Falcons BC of the ProA -- the second division of German professional basketball -- and averaged 12.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the 2018-19 season. He would spend two more seasons playing internationally between the German and French clubs Rasta Vechta and SIG Strasbourg. In August of 2021, Wainright signed with the Toronto Raptors but was eventually waived by the team in October. Less than a week later, he signed a two-way contract to play with the Phoenix Suns and made his NBA debut on November 19, 2021. Fans can follow Wainright on Twitter @Wainright24.
ANALYSIS Wainright has previous familiarity with the Phoenix organization, having played in 105 games for the club between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 season. He had made all seven of his appearances this season with the Trail Blazers, averaging 2.9 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.9 three-pointers in 6.6 minutes per contest before he was waived in January. Wainright will likely serve as a depth option for the Suns and may not be able to pick up regular rotation minutes.
2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Starting/Off Bench
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2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Days Rest
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2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - By Result
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Advanced Stats
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2023
2022
2021
Stat Review
How does Ish Wainright compare to other players?
This section compares his stats with all players from the previous three seasons (minimum 200 minutes played)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
True Shooting %
An advanced statistic that measures a player's efficiency at shooting the ball that takes field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and three point percentage into account.
Effective Field Goal %
A statistic that adjusts field goal percentage to account for the fact that three-point field goals count for three points while field goals only count for two points.
3-Point Attempt Rate
Percentage of field goal attempts from three point range.
Free Throw Rate
Number of free throw attempts per field goal attempt.
Offensive Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Defensive Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Total Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Assist %
An estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted while they were on the floor.
Steal %
An estimate of the percentage of opponent possessions that end with a steal by the player while they were on the floor.
Block %
An estimate of the percentage of opponent two-point field goal attempts blocked by the player while they were on the floor.
Turnover %
An estimate of turnovers committed per 100 plays.
Usage %
An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while they were on the floor.
Fantasy Points Per Game
NBA Fantasy Points Per Game.
Fantasy Points Per Minute
NBA Fantasy Points Per Minute.
True Shooting %
53.0%
Effective Field Goal %
50.0%
3-Point Attempt Rate
88.9%
Free Throw Rate
11.1%
Offensive Rebound %
0.0%
Defensive Rebound %
23.3%
Total Rebound %
11.0%
Assist %
0.0%
Steal %
1.9%
Block %
2.0%
Turnover %
5.0%
Usage %
19.0%
Fantasy Points Per Game
5.5
Fantasy Points Per Minute
0.8
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Total
Per Game
Per 36
NBA Historical Fantasy Stats
How are these ratings calculated?
Our historical fantasy ratings are standard scores calculated using 8-Category settings with 12 teams and 13 players per team.
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NBA Per Game Historical Fantasy Stats
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NBA Per 36 Historical Fantasy Stats
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Historical ADP
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Suns Depth Chart
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Average Fantasy Points are determined when Ish Wainright was active vs. non-active during the season. Click here to view average fantasy points for a different time period.
Minutes
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo
FantasyDraft
Head2Head
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ANALYSIS Wainwright appeared in 45 regular-season games last season after going undrafted and is keen on returning to the franchise, though he also recognized that returning to the Suns is "out of my hands." He had his two-way contract converted into a standard end-of-the-season deal during the waning days of last season. "Everybody knows I want to be back," said Wainwright, who is playing in Summer League games with the Suns' squad. He averaged 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game last season.