Maccabi Basketball in Israel Introducing Players Like Portland's Deni Avdija

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

                    Deni Avdija #8 in 2019; now here and in Portland, Oregon with Trail Blazers 2025-2026

The IDF facilitates mandatory service for elite Israeli basketball players through a special "Exceptional Athlete" status, allowing them to balance training and games with military duties. These athletes typically serve in non-combat, flexible roles, often with shortened daily hours, enabling them to pursue professional careers abroad or in Israel. For example, NBA player Deni Avdija was drafted as an "Exceptional Athlete" in a non-combat role. 

Starting from the 2015–16 season, the team was named Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, referring to the new main fashion line sponsor. New players were signed, including some proven players such as Taylor Rochestie and Vítor Faverani. Jordan Farmar returned, and prospect Dragan Bender gained more playing time as well.  On 24 October 2019, at the age of 18, Avdija made his first start in the EuroLeague, recording six points and three rebounds in 16 minutes in a 76–63 victory over Valencia.

ISRAEL'S Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club  known for sponsorship reasons as Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv , is a professional basketball club based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli Premier League and internationally in the EuroLeague.

              Draft Members sponsored by State Farm Insurance Co. 

Maccabi Tel Aviv is known as one of the best teams in Europe, having won 6 Euroleague titles since joining, and having sent numerous players to the NBA draft. (The NBA draft is an annual National (American) Basketball Association's event, dating back to 1947, in which the teams in the league draft players to join their organizations who are eligible and who declare for the draft.)

The club was established in the mid-1930s, as part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Club, which had been founded in 1906.  Maccabi Tel Aviv is a prominent Israeli sports association founded in 1906, featuring highly successful football and basketball teams. The football club, owned by Mitch Goldhar since 2009, is the most decorated in Israel, while the basketball club plays at Menora Mivtachim Arena. Both teams are known for their deep history and competitive, top-tier performance. 

The first sports club in Israel, "Rishon LeZion" Jaffa, which later became Maccabi Tel Aviv, was founded in 1906 by Dr. Leo Cohen, a doctor at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jaffa (later Herzliya Gymnasium), who had previously led the defense of Kishinev, and Yehezkel Hankin. The club had 25 gymnasts and was equipped with horizontal bars, parallel bars, and weights. The activities of this sports club were based on the activities of the Zionist sports clubs in Europe, which were built according to the German tradition of gymnastics and muscle stretching as non-competitive-exercise activities. 

The club underwent a change a year after its establishment when Zvi Orloff (Nishri), an immigrant from Russia, was appointed a special teacher of gymnastics and physical education at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jaffa. Under his supervision, a beam was installed in the schoolyard on two high poles, from which ladders, ropes, and swings were hung. The first organized sports competitions in the history of the old settlement were held in Rehovot between 1908 and 1914, with the first event taking place during Passover in 1908 in coordination with "Rishon LeZion" Jaffa and lasted one day. Nishri, representing "Rishon LeZion" Jaffa, won the running competition (the other participants were independent and did not represent organized clubs). In 1908, the club had 45 men, 22 women, and 25 youths as members. On Saturdays, club members would go for walks or sail in the sea.

On 18 May 2014, Maccabi Tel Aviv won its sixth EuroLeague championship, after it defeated Real Madrid, by a score of 98–86, in overtime, to win the EuroLeague championship. Tyrese Rice was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP. The game received worldwide media attention, after in response to Real Madrid's loss to Maccabi, over 18,000 anti-Semitic messages were posted on Twitter, in an outpouring of hatred against Jews. Maccabi entered the EuroLeague Finals as an underdog, with few expecting the team to even make it into the EuroLeague Final Four, let alone to go all the way and win the championship.

In the 2020–21 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv started off with no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, and got off to a rocky start, winning 14 out of 34 Euroleague games. In the Winner League, Maccabi beat Hapoel Gilboa Galil to win the Israeli finals series 2–1, to win its 55th championship.

Maccabiah Games 2026
The 22nd Maccabiah Games, the world's largest Jewish athletic competition, will take place in Israel from June 29 to August 14, 2026, featuring various sports. 

Maccabi Tel Aviv BC is competing in the 2025–26 EuroLeague and Israeli Winner League, holding a 9-13 EuroLeague record as of mid-January 2026. Following a 100-97 victory over Zalgiris, the team is fighting to recover from a 2-8 start and climb into the playoff places. Due to ongoing security situations, Maccabi has been playing home games in Belgrade. 

Maccabi Tel Aviv held on to defeat Zalgiris 100-97 in Euroleague play over the weekend as the yellow-and-blue improved its record to 9-13 in front of over 10,000 fans at Yad Eliyahu, who cheered the club on from the tip-off all the way to the final whistle.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabi_Tel_Aviv_B.C.#:~:text=In%20the%202020%E2%80%9321%20season,the%202023%E2%80%9324%20EuroLeague%20season.

https://www.maccabisport.org/about-maccabi/