The first domino to fall in what’s being called “Hapoel Tel Aviv Model 2026” was Tyler Ennis’ season-ending injury at the start of the calendar year. It was that injury that pushed Hapoel Tel Aviv to hastily register Vasilije Micić as its tenth and final foreign player eligible for domestic league games. At the time, when the Reds were still leading both competitions the Israeli league and the Euroleague, it seemed unlikely that another foreign reinforcement would arrive, one who wouldn’t even be eligible to help in the quest for a first league championship since Neil Armstrong took his small step on the moon.

But now, just a month and a half later, we’ve woken up to the news of Levi Randolph’s arrival, following the official signing of Kessler Edwards. The two will be the 19th and 20th players to suit up for Hapoel Tel Aviv this season, though only in international competitions.

Of all the blows Hapoel Tel Aviv have absorbed in its painful return from the extended honeymoon of Ofer Yannay and Dimitrios Itoudis, it was Nigel Hayes-Davis’ cold shoulder to his former teammates (Yam Madar, Jonathan Motley and Itoudis) and to his new acquaintance (Yannay) on his way to Panathinaikos that sent the latter on a rapid shopping spree. The goal: secure what just a month ago seemed obvious; a place in the EuroLeague top eight, which would grant the Reds a ticket to that exclusive club in future seasons as well. Thus, Ofer Yannay brought in two players who together are meant to provide what Hayes-Davis may offer another mercurial owner at the OAKA Arena in Athens, while Hapoel Tel Aviv slips from the top of the EuroLeague table to sixth place and perhaps the slide isn’t over yet.

The first addition, signed last week, is 25-year-old power forward Kessler Edwards. The American, drafted in 2021, brings 178 NBA games of experience, though he mostly made his mark in games that were already decided, while scoring the bulk of his points in the G League. As Itoudis said, his added value lies in his athleticism and size (2.03 meters), which should bring defensive intensity. Offensively, the hope is that he can space the floor, a polite way of asking him not to get in the way of Elijah Bryant and Antonio Blakeney.

Levi Randolph is well known from his time at Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv. The proven scorer, who primarily plays small forward, upgrades himself from the VTB League to the EuroLeague and from the Saint Petersburg winter (Zenit) to the Tel Aviv spring while reportedly earning a handsome salary for a 33-year-old (around $500,000). He arrives in good playing shape (14.6 points in 28 minutes per game), bringing European experience and the ability Itoudis may love most of all: to heat up and score in bunches regardless of teammates or opponents.

If it looks like a band-aid, walks like a band-aid and costs like a band-aid, it’s probably a band-aid. Edwards and Randolph come at a significant cost. Neither will play in the domestic league this season. Edwards’ contract runs only through the end of the season and that could mean as few as 11 European games after which he’ll remain with the team but won’t be eligible to play. Despite a questionable cost-benefit ratio, band-aids can change reality. Just look across the road: only a few months ago, Iffe Lundberg arrived from the land of band-aids to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Despite not having played basketball for half a year, the Dane was exactly what Oded Katash needed to completely turn around the yellow-and-blue’s embarrassing start to the season.

What Itoudis needs now is reinforcement at the 3 and 4 positions, where Hapoel Tel Aviv has struggled recently due to Motley’s defensive shortcomings, Colin Malcolm and Ish Wainright’s offensive struggles and limited trust in Tomer Ginat, who is only just returning from injury.

If Edwards is expected to bolster the Reds’ rim protection, Randolph arrives as an additional weapon in the Greek coach’s isolation-heavy doctrine, someone to hit clutch shots and keep Itoudis afloat when Bryant, Micić, Blakeney and Chris Jones fail to find their stroke. That’s exactly what happened in the last five losses. Hapoel Tel Aviv, relying on guard isolations, lost game after game in the final ten minutes. Whether it was blowing double-digit leads (Partizan and Valencia), failing to recover after opponent runs (Bayern and Žalgiris), or a complete meltdown like the one in Belgrade, the Reds lost all those fourth quarters. No wonder: they averaged just 14 points while conceding 25 in those decisive stretches.

It’s not that they aren’t shooting, they’re just missing. Their field-goal percentage in those quarters plummeted from a season average of 50% (first in the EuroLeague) to just 32.8%, ten percent lower than last-place ASVEL’s average in the category. From beyond the arc, it’s even worse: in those five final quarters, the Reds hit just 9 of 37 threes (24%), compared to a 37% season average. Randolph, shooting 48.8% from deep this season, is another player willing to take those shots when called upon and if inspiration strikes and they fall in crunch time, that alone might suffice.

Beyond their differing styles and roster fit, they may primarily be arriving to provide a jolt of energy to a team that has failed to play four complete quarters at a critical juncture of the season. Hapoel Tel Aviv now enters the final quarter of its EuroLeague campaign. Its shots of energy must hit something and must them back onto a path of victories.

Of all the possible jolts Ofer Yannay could have chosen, he opted for the easiest one. It’s cheaper than replacing the coach. It’s less complicated and prolonged than trying to bring the broader fan base back to the stands. It’s a shot of energy aimed at securing a EuroLeague ticket and it will ultimately be judged by the team’s position in the standings 11 games from now, not by what we already know about Levi Randolph or what we will soon discover about Kessler Edwards.