In a week’s time, Kyahn Issa will be leaving the United States for the first time in his life. While his surroundings will be foreign, his new job will be very familiar.
Issa, a 2020 graduate of Pitman High School whose college and professional basketball ambitions were thrown into limbo amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be packing his bags and heading to South America for what will be his first opportunity to play the sport he loves at the professional level.
On April 11, Issa announced that he had signed a contract with Patulul Suchitepequez, better known as Pat City, of Lige Metropolitana in Guatemala.
“Personally, for me, just being able to see the world while playing a sport I love is amazing. I feel like opportunities like that get kind of overlooked,” Issa said. “A lot of people don't even leave the country, like myself. I've never been out of the country, but to see different parts of the world, experience a different culture and lifestyle while playing a sport and getting paid for it, especially doing something you love, to me that's a win.”
Issa, 23, shined at forward for the varsity Pride from 2018-2020, scoring 478 points, grabbing 235 rebounds and assisting 69 times in his career. With the pandemic halting competitions of all kinds across the country and world, he reclassified as a high schooler and played at Grand River Academy in Ohio. He then had post-graduate stints with West Coast Elite in California, then earned a spot with the Ottawa University squad in 2021. In the 2022-23 season, he played for Whatcom College in North Washington. Currently living in New England, Issa planned on playing with Bridgewater State, but interest from Pat City was hard to ignore.
“I’ve played a lot of different places at this point and have met a lot of real good people,” Issa said. “One of my friends who played overseas connected me with an agent who had experience both playing and getting players signed overseas.”
That player-turned-agent is Miles Weber, a Chicago native who played in Barbados, El Salvador, Kosovo and Mexico. He now runs the agency Fully Feared Sports.
“He asked me what my goals were, and I was explaining my story to him. And ironically, he had the same kind of situation as me,” Issa said. “He was at a JUCO, he went to two universities, same type of run around. He was 23 at the time and kind of done with school, but trying to still play basketball, bet on himself and took it overseas one day.”
Issa admittedly felt as if he started the international free agent process early, sending out footage before even playing a game this year. But his past performances were enough to get a call two weeks ago in the middle of class that Pat City was interested.
Studying psychology and interested in learning a trade, Issa decided to put the academics on hold and take a similar bet on himself.
“They want me to play with them for the rest of the season, so I had to ask myself, ‘Do I take this opportunity to play pro, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s basically over?’ You can’t return to college. Once you go pro, you go pro. With my education, that’s something I can return to. It’s going to be there.
“I’d rather start my pro career at 23 instead of 25 or 26 by the time I graduate. Most of my classes are online, and for the first time in so many years, I can focus full-time on basketball, and that’s an exciting thing. It’s a new journey and I’m excited for it.”
