Jake Cohen arrived back in Israel as he will begin yet another season with Maccabi Tel Aviv as he closes in on almost a decade with the yellow-and-blue. However, his time with the club was in doubt this past summer when the option on his contract wasn’t picked up and the 33-year old posted a goodbye message on his social media accounts. But instead of bidding adieu, fans went into shock and talks heated up as Cohen inked an extension to remain with the team.

Under head coach Oded Katash, Cohen has been an integral part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv puzzle as the forward started in the Euroleague and used his veteran know how and guile to set the tone in many games, helping his team take a positive first step in each and every contest. In the Israeli league, Cohen was always a stalwart and a player revered by the entire fanbase as one who always leaves it all on the court with blood, sweat and tears.

As Cohen stepped out into the arrivals hall, the awaiting fans sang as they saw one of their hero’s return to the Holy Land for yet another rodeo with the hope that this will be the year that the club will finally make it back to the Euroleague’s Final Four.

“It’s awesome. This reception is amazing and it says a lot that after 26 hours of travel I’m still excited and happy to be here. It’s awesome to be back in Israel and back in my home with the Maccabi family.”

Maccabi had a pretty large roster turnover in the offseason as Lorenzo Brown, Wade Baldwin, Josh Nebo and Bonzie Colson all departed the club and new players came in including a pair that have played in Israel over the past two seasons in Levi Randolph from Hapoel Jerusalem and Jaylen Hoard who plied his trade with Hapoel Tel Aviv. But although there will be new faces on the court wearing the yellow-and-blue, Cohen is exited to meet the new guys and make new relationships.

“I’m really excited about it and I know a lot of the guys from playing against them and I have a lot of respect for them on that front. I think we can do some exciting things this year on the court. Off the court I’m excited to build some new relationships and friendships because that’s been the most rewarding part of my time at Maccabi is meeting the people here.”

One played in particular that Jake Cohen is super excited to be playing with this coming season is Jordan Loyd who arrived in Israel less than two hours before Cohen did himself. With a past history back over a decade ago in the college ranks, Cohen can’t wait to meet and greet his new teammate and show him the ropes at Maccabi.

“Jordan Loyd actually. Jordan Loyd and I have a weird southern conference history. He went to Furman his freshman year and when I played at Davidson we played in the Southern Conference. So we have that small connection that we’ve talked about a little bit when we’ve played against each other before and now we are going to explore that a lot more in this coming season. Him being this great player asides I think that this will be a cool part to start the connection.”

Over the summer when Maccabi decided not to pick up Cohen’s option, it seemed that a chapter for both the club and player was coming to an end. Cohen put up an emotional post on his Instagram account thanking the fans and the team for the time that they had together. Across the board, supporters were stunned with the move and were in shock that one of their favorites was not going to be coming back for another season in yellow-and-blue. But at the darkest moments, there was light as talks resumed as Cohen and the club came to terms for him to continue with of yet another campaign.

“It was really a heartbreaking time for me because I really thought that my Maccabi period was over and thankfully we were able to make it work after that. I didn’t mean to put the fans and everyone through that rollercoaster but I was right there along with them. I’m just glad that everything worked out at the end and I’m back here with my Maccabi family and that’s all I can ask for.

They didn’t pick up my option and then a few days after that I thought that it was done and over because there wasn’t very much communication between me and the club so I really thought it was over. But then after I made the post it really seemed to reignite the talks and I’m very grateful for that because I had a lot of people reach out to me personally how much they were going to miss me and that was really humbling and gratifying to see all of the support I got from people. Not only people I knew but strangers and other folks that respected my game and respected how I carried myself and that was really rewarding as a player and as a person to hear that. Then to be able to have it work out it was like the cherry on top.”