The Israel Basketball League opens up on Sunday with a trip of games and just before the ball is thrown in the air for tip-off, The Sports Rabbi website has complied some intriguing date as we head into the 2024/25 campaign.

The youngest team in the league is Elitzur Netanya, with an average of 22.1 years. The average age of the players in the league is 25.3 while the average age per team is below:
1. Hapoel Tel Aviv – 28.3
2. Maccabi Tel Aviv – 27.2
3. Maccabi Ramat Gan – 26.5
4. Hapoel Jerusalem – 26.3
5. Hapoel Beer Sheva – 25.2
6. Hapoel Haifa – 25.1
7. Hapoel Galil Elyon – 24.6
8. Hapoel Holon 24.5
9. Hapoel Gilboa/Galil 24.1
10. Bnei Herzliya 23.3
11. Ness Ziona – 23.3
12. Hapoel Afula 23.2
13. Kiryat Ata 23.2
14. Elitzur Netanya 22.1

The most seasons on one team: Jake Cohen – 9th season at Maccabi Tel Aviv (not consecutively).

The oldest captain: John Dibartolomeo – 8th season at Maccabi Tel Aviv who is also the longest termed player in consecutive years.

There are 5 European imports playing in the league this coming season with 3 on Maccabi Tel Aviv, Jaylen Hoard, Rokas Jokubaitis and Alpha Kaba who played for France as a youth but now represents the Guinea national team. The other two play for Hapoel Gilboa Galil in Emmanuel Nzekwesi from Holland and Hans Vanwijn from Belgium.

There are 6 North American imports who are not from the United States of America with 3 of them from Panama – Ricky Lindo and Eric Romero (both born in the USA) along with Iverson Molinar, 2 from Canada – Marcus Carr and Elijah Mitrou-Long, while Jasiel Rivero is from Cuba.

There are 2 South Americans playing in the league, both at Hapoel Tel Aviv – Bruno Caboclo (Brazil) and Braian Angola (Colombia).

There are 5 Israelis born abroad (not including naturalized Israelis) playing in the league – Miron Katz and Roman Sorkin (both from Belarus), Miron Ruina (Finland), Noam Yaakov (Denmark) and Netta Segal (Scotland).

There are 7 Under-20 European champions playing in the league: Miron Ruina (2018), Gil Beni (2018), Ido Flaischer (2018), Shahar Amir ( 2019), Raz Adam (2018-19), Noam Avivi (2018-19), Idan Alber (2019).

There are 17 Israeli league champions who are not currently playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv with 7 having won with another team as well: 7 of them managed to win outside of Maccabi Tel Aviv: Joe Ragland (with Hapoel Holon), Oz Blayzer, Bar Timor (won twice with Hapoel Jerusalem), Idan Zalmanson (in addition to Maccabi Tel Aviv, won with Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion), Karam Mashour, Adam Ariel (won with Hapoel Jerusalem), Yovel Zoosman, Sylven Landesberg, Iftah Ziv, Niv Misgav (won with Hapoel Holon), Itay Segev, Idan Alber, Yonatan Atias, Dori Sahar, Sandy Cohen, Frederic Bourdillon (Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Holon) and Michale Kyser (Hapoel Holon).

The youngest import in the league is 23-year-old Jimmy Clark (born in 2001) who is playing with Bnei Herzliya.

The youngest player in the league is 16-year old Roee Nanikashvili (born in 2008) who is playing with Kiryat Ata.

The oldest player in the league is Hapoel Tel Aviv’s Patrick Beverley who is 36 years old (born in 1988).

The oldest Israeli in the league is Willy Workman (34 years old).

The tallest player in the league is Gilad Levy – 2.20 meters.

The tallest foreigner in the league is Marcus Bingham – 2.13 meters.

The shortest player in the league is Jared Harper – 1.78 meters.

There are 16 naturalized Israelis in playing in the league.

There are two foreign assistant coaches that are working in the league, both at Hapoel Jerusalem – Alessandro Lotesoriere and Theodoros Giannakopoulos.

There are 27 players who are playing in the top league who moved up from the Leumit League (including players who were on promoted teams as well as Shahar Doron who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv at the beginning of last season and Ron Cohen who finished the season at Hapoel Galil Elyon after being loaned to Maccabi Haifa).

20 Israeli players moved from one team to another within the league (including Doron who was primarily with Elitzur Shomron but as mentioned above also played in Maccabi Tel Aviv and Eyal Harel who started last season at Hapoel Tel Aviv and was loaned to Maccabi Haifa).

56 Israeli players remained with the same team (including those with newly promoted clubs).

9 foreigners remained with the same team (including Carrington who became an Israeli citizen and Isaiah Miles who finished the season with Hapoel Tel Aviv but began with Maccabi Ramat Gan where he returned to this summer).

There is one foreign head coach with Stefanos Dedas at Hapoel Tel Aviv.

15 former Euroleague players who do not currently play for Maccabi Tel Aviv are in the league, including 7 who have never played with the yellow-and-blue with 6 of them at Hapoel Tel Aviv (together with Oz Blayzer who played with Maccabi, the Reds have 7 former Euroleague players): Jonathan Motley, Patrick Beverly, Noam Yaakov, Marcus Foster, Bruno Caboclo and Ben Bentil all played in the Euroleague but never with Maccabi. Yonatan Atias, Dori Sahar, Sylvan Landesberg, Jalen Adams, Nimrod Levi, Yovel Zussman, Itay Segev, Drew Crawford (Not with Maccabi).

There are 13 former NBA players play in the league: Patrick Beverley, Jonathan Motley, Ish Wainwright, Ben Bentil, Ben Moore, Xavier Sneed, Chris Silva, Jalen Lecque, Wenyen Gabriel, Tyler Bey, Jaylen Hoard, Jordan Loyd, Ray Spalding.

8 players in the league were selected in the NBA draft with only one of them in the 1st round: Bruno Caboclo (20th in 2014), Patrick Beverley (42nd in 2009), Ben Bentil (51st in 2016), JP Tokoto (58th in 2015), Tyler Bey (36th in 2020), Rokas Jokubaitis (34th in 2021), Ray Spalding (56th in 2018), Alpha Kaba (60th in 2017).

One foreigner whose father used to play in the league now plays in Israel: Ish El-Amin (Khalid’s son).

5 sons of former Israeli players feature in the league: Lotan Amsalem (son of Shimon), Ido Flaischer (son of Ofer), Or Cornelius (son of Greg), Yuval Levin (son of Rinat Zaltz) and Yuval Sznaiderman (son of Amir).

The only brothers who play in the league are Dori Sahar (Maccabi Ramat Gan) and Oren Sahar (Maccabi Tel Aviv). They are also have another brother who plays basketball, Nadav Sahar. In addition, there are 5 other brother tandems who play sports with four being basketball players: Gil Beni (brother of soccer player Golan), Gur Lavi (brother of basketball player Oz), Shalev Lugashi (brpther of basketball player Noam), Omer Poleg (brother of basketball player Eylon) and Ilai Hayun (brother of basketball player Raziel).

There are 7 players who are making their European debut playing in the league: Drew Pember, Jimmy Clark, Alex Sobel, Darryl Morsell (played outside the United States but is now making his European debut), Ryan Turell (only played in the G-League), Carlos Marshall and Clarence Daniels.

The only American in the league who never played in college is Jalen Lecque.

Which leagues did the newcomers arrive from?
6 from Greece (including Ahmed Hill, who later played in Canada)
5 from Puerto Rico (not including John Meeks, who previously played in the Netherlands)
5 from college (Drew Pember, Alex Sobel, Jimmy Clark, Carlos Marshall and Clarence Daniels)
4 from Spain (including naturalized Sylven Landesberg)
4 from France (not including the naturalized Will Rayman who was loaned by Maccabi Tel Aviv)
4 from the G-League
3 from the Turkish top league (another foreigner comes from the second)
3 from the Polish top league (another foreigner comes from the second)
2 from Japan
2 from Finland
2 of the Latvian-Estonian league
2 from Taiwan (Tyler Bey played in the Philippines as well in preseason)
Other countries: Netherlands, Canada and the Philippines as mentioned above, Serbia, Uruguay, Mexico, Romania, Italy, Kosovo, Portugal and Belgium.

7 former champions in the various leagues play for Hapoel Tel Aviv: Joe Ragland (Israel, the Adriatic League and Serbia), Jonathan Motley (Turkey), Ben Bentil (Greece, Italy and Serbia), Oz Blayzer (Israel), Bar Timor (Israel), Marcus Foster (Lithuania, also won in the G-league) and Bruno Caboclo (Germany, also won the G-League and the Champions League of South America).

13 foreigners returned to Israel this season: Chavaughn Lewis, Joe Ragland, Marcus Foster, Ben Moore, Shavon Coleman, Lennard Freeman, Jaylen Johnson, Tyler Bey, Jalen Adams, Michale Kyser, Jordan Loyd, Hans Vanwijn and Cody Riley.

2 naturalized Israelis returned to the Holy Land: Sylven Landesberg and Will Rayman (loaned to Saint-Quinten last season)

11 foreigners changed teams within the league: Levi Randolph, Jaylen Hoard, Marcus Carr, Jon Davis, JP Tokoto, Marcus Bingham, Dakarai Tucker, Justin Smith, Isiah Miles (returned to Ramat Gan from Hapoel Tel Aviv, can also be considered as continuing with the same team), Drew Crawford and Amin Stevens.

The leading active scorer in the league in the regular season is Bar Timor with 2862 points (80th place all-time), followed by Oz Blayzer (2650 points, 97th place) and Sylven Landesberg (2278 points, 134th place).

The leading foreign scorer is Eric Griffin (1877 points, 199th place).

The highest point average among the active players in the league is Amin Stevens (16.4 points, 99th place), among the Israelis are Landesberg and Tomer Ginat (12.4 points 21st).

There are 5 coaches in the league who previously won the Coach of the Season award: Stefanos Dedas, Oded Katash, Sharon Avrahami, Oren Aharoni and Ariel Beit Halachmi.

Sylven Landesberg first played in the league 14 years ago in the 2020/11 season.

There are 5 players who previously were named the Israeli Player of the Season are currently in the league: Tomer Ginat (2), Roman Sorkin, Nimrod Levi, Iftach Ziv and Karam Mashour

2 former Players of the Season are in the league: Roman Sorkin and John DiBartolomeo.

3 Finals MVPs are currently playing in the league: John Dibartolomeo, Joe Ragland and Roman Sorkin.

One former scoring champ is currently playing in the league: Tyler Bey 2022/23 season.

15 Israelis who once played abroad are playing in the league: Bar Timor, Tomer Ginat, Yonatan Rabinovitch, Noam Yaacov, Rafi Menco, Iftach Ziv, Gaby Chachashvili, Nimrod Levi, Yovel Zoosman, Tamir Blatt, Jake Cohen, Adam Ariel, Tomer Levinson, Itay Segev and Gilad Levi.

The most veteran assistant coach on one team is Barak Lederer, who is beginning his 10th season at Hapoel Tel Aviv.

3 players from the Israel Under-18 team that reached the semifinals of the European Championship this past summer are currently playing in the Premier League, Miron Katz, Omer Mayer and Oren Sahar.

One player arrived in Israel after being the leading scorer in another league, Ish El-Amin, who led the Latvian-Estonian league.

4 players with Hapoel Gilboa/Galil played under current head coach Sharon Avrahami in the past with Kiryat Ata, Nevo Sommerfeld, Roey Netzia, Niv Avidan and Gur Lavi.

45 Israeli players in the league played under Avrahami as a coach or assistant over the years (not including Josh Aldrich, whom he is coaching for the first time in Gilboa/Galil).

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth department developed the most players who currently playing in the Premier League with 16. The table below shows the amount of players who are playing in the top league developed by team (at least 2 players):
Maccabi Tel Aviv – 16
Hapoel Tel Aviv – 12
Basketball Academy 10
Hapoel Emek Izrael – 9
Hapoel Gilboa/Mayanot – 8
Maccabi Ra’anana – 5
Elitzur Netanya – 5
Maccabi Rishon Lezion – 5
Hapoel Jerusalem – 5
Maccabi Haifa – 4
Bnei Herzliya – 4
Hapoel Holon – 3
AS Ashkelon – 3
Hapoel Galil Upper – 3
Kiryat Ata – 3
Ness Ziona – 3
Hapoel Haifa – 3
Hapoel Lev Hasharon – 2
Maccabi Hod Hasharon – 2
Hapoel Afula – 2
Hapoel Ashdod – 2
Urban Nahariya – 2
Hapoel Emek Hefer – 2
Otzma Modi’in – 2

Amount of home grown players who are featuring for their clubs this season (rotation players in parenthesis):
Ness Ziona – 4 (Tomer Levinson and Alon Drucker)
Bnei Herzliya – 4 (Alon Michaeli)
Hapoel Tel Aviv – 3 (Guy Palatin)
Hapoel Holon – 3
Urban Kiryat Ata – 3
Elizur Netanya – 3
Maccabi Tel Aviv – 2 (Omer Meir)
Hapoel Haifa – 2
Hapoel Upper Galilee – 2 (Ron Cohen)
Hapoel Gilboa/Galil – 2
Hapoel Beer Sheva – 1
Hapoel Afula – 1 (Muriel Lutati)
Maccabi Ramat Gan – 1
Hapoel Jerusalem – 1

8 head coaches have been a part of the Israel National Team program as a head or as an assistant coaches: Oded Katash, Sharon Avrahami, Oren Aharoni, Elad Hasin, Amit Sherf, Yehu Orland, Ariel Beit Halachmi and Guy Goodes.

The active coach with the highest winning percentage in the regular season – Oded Katash (12th place all-time, 64.27%), followed by – Guy Goodes (17th place all-time, 59.15%).

The active coach with the most games in the regular season – Ariel Beit Halachmi (517, 5th all-time).

The active coach with the most wins in the regular season – Oded Katash (295, fifth all-time).

One NCAA champion plays in the league, Yarin Hasson (Connecticut in 2023)

One NBA champion plays in the league, Jordan Loyd (2019 with Toronto)

One Euroleague champion plays in the league: Sylvan Landesberg (2014 with Maccabi Tel Aviv)

The youngest captain in the league – Ariel Isaac (21 years old)

The colleges where the most players have featured:
UNLV, Auburn, Texas, Virginia and Kansas State (3 each)
Arkansas, Oregon, Indiana, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Marquette, Virginia Tech, Charlotte, Baylor and Louisville (2 each).

8 players who were born in the 2000s play for Elitzur Netanya.

The foreigners who have played in the league the longest are Eric Griffin and JP Tokoto who are beginning their 7th season.

The coaches who are making their top league debut are Yehu Orland, Eldad Bentov and Ruben Neiberger and Idan Avshalom (joint coaches in Netanya).

6 Israelis previously played in colleges: Karam Mashour, Yaheli Steinhauer, Roman Sorkin, Ido Flaischer, Alon Drucker and Yarin Hasson.

8 teams changed coaches in the summer, with 2 coaches returning to the teams they previously coached (Guy Goodes and Elad Hassin).

The oldest coach in the league is Ariel Beit Halachmi (58 years old).

The youngest coach in the league is Eldad Bentov (34 years old).

The most veteran player in the league is Idan Zalmanson, who is starting his 14th season.