Know Your Team: Mareik Isom
London Lightning
6’9
Forward
From Austin, Texas
Mareik Isom hit the ground running when he first arrived in the NBL Canada and has continued to show tireless offence and high basketball IQ since, making him a key component of the game plan for every team he has played for.
Long before that, with his high-school team Bowie, Isom won two all-district selections and averaged 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in his senior year. At the same time he also played for the Austin Ice in the Amateur Atheltics Union, where he was coached by Johnny Moore, a nine-year veteran of the San Antonio Spurs and the 1982 NBA assists leader.
Isom then played three years for Little Rock Trojans, playing with future NBLC teammate Kemy Osse. He emerged as a dependable all-around shooter in his sophomore year, but flourished from the three-point line, leading the conference in three-point shooting. After averaging 5.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game for Little Rock, he moved on to the Texas Longhorns in his hometown of Austin, but saw limited time.
His shooting prowess and defensive abilities followed him to his first professional team, the Saint John Riptide. After beginning the season with two successive double-digit games, he erupted for 31 against the Niagara River Lions on December 15th 2017. What followed was a debut season where he scored in double-digits in all but nine games and finished as one of the league's best three-point shooters.
After Saint John were eliminated in the first round of the 2018 playoffs, Isom joined up with the Milwaukee Bucks' NBA G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd. After playing six games for the Herd in November 2018, he stayed in the league but as part of the Salt Lake City Stars.
He returned to Canada in December 2019, in just his third game for the London Lightning he scored 30 points against the Sudbury Five. Days later he recorded his first NBLC double-double, 21 points and 10 rebounds in a nine-point win over the Windsor Express. Three more twenty-point performances followed before the season was curtailed, with Isom averaging 10.8 points and 5.3 boards.
When the NBL Canada came back after a two-year hiatus, so did Isom. Once again playing for the Lightning in the first seventeen games of the season, he averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, including 22 points against the KW Titans on April 6th. He bettered that with a season-high 27 against the Windsor Express on May 2nd.
It's easy to see why Isom has become a sought-after name in the NBL Canada but surprising he has yet to be recognized for his efforts, but if his productivity continues it will only be a matter of time before he puts his name into the league's history books.
