Isaiah Washington (born July 20, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Basket Zaragoza of the Liga ACB. He played for St. Raymond High School for Boys in The Bronx, where he was named Mr. New York Basketball in 2017. Washington co-founded and popularized Jelly Fam, a social media movement that emphasizes creative finger roll layups. He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Iona Gaels, and Long Beach State.
Washington was born and raised in Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. He grew up playing basketball at Dunlevy Milbank Children's Center in Harlem. In junior high school, Washington and his friend, Ja'Quaye James, along with Jahvon Quinerly, began calling themselves "Jelly Fam." The phrase became popular among basketball players through social media and was centered around fancy finger roll layups called "jelly." Washington trademarked the name.
Washington played basketball for St. Raymond High School for Boys in The Bronx, a borough of New York City. On August 26, he shared most valuable player (MVP) honors at the Elite 24 All-American Game after scoring 36 points. As a senior, he averaged 26 points and six assists per game. Washington scored a season-high 54 points in a 91âÂÂ83 loss to Cardinal Hayes High School. He finished his career as St. Raymond's all-time leading scorer with 1,410 points, surpassing Darryl Bryant, and was named Mr. New York Basketball, becoming the fourth point guard to ever win the award.
Washington was a consensus four-star recruit and the highest rated New York point guard in the 2017 class. He committed to play college basketball for Minnesota over offers from several other NCAA Division I programs.
On November 10, 2017, Washington made his collegiate debut, recording four points and five assists on 1-of-9 shooting for Minnesota in a 92âÂÂ77 victory over USC Upstate. On February 3, 2018, he scored a career-high 26 points in a 76âÂÂ73 overtime loss to Michigan. It was the highest-scoring performance by a Minnesota freshman in Big Ten Conference play since Kris Humphries in 2004. He was subsequently named Big Ten freshman of the week. As a freshman, Washington played 32 games and averaged 8.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, shooting 36.6 percent from the field. On December 11, 2018, during his sophomore season, he posted his first double-double, with 14 points and a career-high 13 assists in an 80âÂÂ71 win over North Florida. Washington averaged 4.3 points and 2.8 assists on 31.1 percent shooting as a sophomore and received less playing time due to the emergence of Gabe Kalscheur.
For his junior season, he transferred to Iona, moving closer to his hometown of Harlem to spend time with his ailing grandmother, and was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA. In his first eight games, Washington averaged 7.8 points per game and shot 28 percent on three-pointers, but he grew more comfortable with his teammates and improved his statistics as the season progressed. On January 26, 2020, he tallied 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 94âÂÂ88 loss to Monmouth. On February 27, Washington posted the third triple-double in Iona history with 14 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in an 86âÂÂ65 win over Canisius. Washington averaged 11.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. On May 21, 2020, he entered the transfer portal as part of a mutual agreement with new head coach Rick Pitino and his staff.
On June 15, 2020, Washington announced that he was transferring to Long Beach State. As a senior, he averaged 13.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
After going undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft, Washington signed with LovÃÂen 1947 of the ABA League Second Division and the Prva A Liga.
On August 12, 2022, Washington signed with Spià ¡skàRytieri of the Slovak Basketball League.
On January 8, 2023, Washington signed with Skyliners Frankfurt of the Basketball Bundesliga.
On June 8, 2024, he signed with SLUC Nancy Basket of the LNB Pro A.
In 2025, Washington played for CS Antonine of the Lebanese Basketball League and Nizhny Novgorod of the VTB United League.
On January 27, 2026, Washington signed with Basket Zaragoza of the Liga ACB and EuroCup.
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2017âÂÂ18 | style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota || 32 || 4 || 20.0 || .366 || .241 || .765 || 2.6 || 2.3 || .6 || .1 || 8.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2018âÂÂ19 | style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota || 28 || 0 || 16.1 || .311 || .213 || .704 || 1.6 || 2.8 || .5 || .1 || 4.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2019âÂÂ20 | style="text-align:left;"| Iona || 28 || 23 || 33.3 || .406 || .331 || .803 || 5.1 || 4.0 || 1.7 || .3 || 11.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2020âÂÂ21 | style="text-align:left;"| Long Beach || 16 || 16 || 33.5 || .434 || .302 || .773 || 4.9 || 4.8 || 1.1 || .1 || 13.7 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career || 104 || 43 || 24.6 || .373 || .282 || .770 || 3.4 || 3.3 || 1.0 || .1 || 9.0