Jalen Reynolds has returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv, signing a two-year deal plus an option for a third season after spending the previous campaign in Germany with Bayern Munich.

The big man had joined the Yellow & Blue during the 2019/20 season as a back up to Tarik Black who had been injured and stayed with the team until the end of the shortened Euroleague campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With Bayern, Reynolds played in every single one of the club’s 39 Euroleague games and scored 13.6 points and grabbed 5.8 rebounds in 21 minutes per contest.

Maccabi coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos spoke to Maccabi.co.il about the center’s return to Yad Eliyahu, “I’m very happy that we are bringing Jalen Reynolds back to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. We know him well, he knows us well and he will be able to adjust fast and get ready to help the team quickly. We know that in his second appearance with us he will play even better and support the team more effectively since he gained more European experience.”

“I am very happy and thankful for the opportunity to come back to Maccabi,” Jalen Reynolds said. “My first experience showed me Maccabi is a great club and made my decision easy this time. I can’t wait to see the arena full of amazing fans. I will bring all of my energy and focus to help the team win everything. Yalla Maccabi!”

Lukas Feldhaus, The Sports Rabbi’s European Expert based in Germany offered his instant reaction to the signing:

“Jalen Reynolds was one of the cornerstones to Bayern’s success in the first two thirds of the season. I believe that Vlado Lucic, Wade Baldwin and he were the most important factors for a great start into the EL season which led to clinching a playoff-spot in the end. He was good at scoring in multiple ways within the 3-pt line. He could score in transition, on pick & roll, on post-ups and from mid-range. As he once said in an interview, his role was to be the sixth man and a motor on the court by providing energy, going for rebounds and overpower opponents inside the arc.

“I think bringing him back is a solid move by Maccabi because they get one of the better big men of last year’s campaign and a cornerstone of one of the better EL teams last season. There are however still parts of his game that caused Bayern some problems, especially in the last third of the season. His focus was not always at 100 per cent especially on pick & roll defense. That’s probably why Bayern started Leon Radosevic in most games and why they finished lots of games with James Gist at the 5 position. I think that Maccabi still needs another big man who can provide some for activeness and consistency on defense. Jalen Reynold’s stats dropped from 21:06 minutes, 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game at 59.8 2P% in the regular season of EuroLeague to 18:47 minutes, 10.4 points and 5.2 rebounds at 47.6 2P% in the playoffs.

Jalen Reynolds – Photo Credit: Euroleague.net

“In BBL he even fell off from 16:47 mpg, 13.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 63.1 2P% down to 17:23 mpg, 8.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 53.8 2P% in the playoffs. In addition, he was not even registered for two playoff games due to the quota. Trinchieri preferred James Gist and J.J. Johnson in those two games. All in all, he developed excellently and exceeded expectations at the beginning of the season but his development towards the end of the season was not really promising.

Jalen Reynolds – Photo Credit: Bayern Munich

“I think it must be said that it was a tough year with all those games. He played in 82 of Bayern’s 90 games (including cup games) last season. That was a completely new situation for him and coach Andrea Trinchieri is a very perfectionistic person while Jalen Reynolds came to Bayern with some flaws in his game from a tactical standpoint. Moreover, Germany was in a semi lockdown for almost the whole season. Therefore, I think it was an extremely demanding season for Reynolds, from which he could learn and take a lot. He helped Bayern a lot overall and Andrea Trinchieri helped him a lot in molding his game. I think Maccabi can really benefit from that although I would still expect ups and downs from him. So it will be important for Maccabi to have one more 5 man of quite a similar level.”

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Reynolds attended high school in New Hampshire and then played four years at Xavier University. In 2016 he headed to Italy for his pro debut where he played for Recanati and Reggio Emilia over the course of two seasons as he averaged 18.2 points and 7.9 boards along with 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds respectively.

Following his two years in Italy, Reynolds had a short stint with Barcelona and then joined Zenit St. Petersburg where he checked in with 16.6 points and 7.9 rebounds in the VTB League plus 13.8 points and 8.1 boards in the EuroCup. After playing in China and the G-League, Reynolds splayed 12 games with Maccabi and averaged 5.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in a shade under 14 minutes per game.