Maccabi Tel Aviv’s loss to Bayern Munich on Friday sealed the twisted roller coaster that was the first round of the EuroLeague’s 2025–26 season. What didn’t we have there? Firings that were both decided upon and at the very same time were never really on the table. Protests and organized cheering displays. Passion and madness alongside indifference. There was deep despair, there was euphoria and there was a huge victory in the first EuroLeague derby in history.

There was also basketball—at times shocking and leading to more or less embarrassing losses, but also thrilling basketball that produced impressive wins and planted a cautious, measured sense of hope, given the problematic roster that was waiting for some Tyrique Jones who never arrived, a player who could have lifted it a few places up the standings, to the area from which you don’t end a season after 38 games. So let’s get to work, this was Maccabi Tel Aviv’s first EuroLeague round.

This is the second season Maccabi has opened under the shadow of war, which affects many elements of how the team was built, how it played and what it aspired to at the start of the season. As in previous seasons, when the yellow-and-blue management faced cash-flow issues stemming from the inability to sell tickets and season passes for its games in Belgrade, Maccabi opted for a cautious approach, one that mainly tried to preserve existing assets (with very limited success) and to “hit” on low-to mid-profile signings (with even less success). Already in the summer, narratives emerged describing a “tough market,” in which the club struggled to meet the demands of EuroLeague stars unwilling to come to the Holy Land, with Lonnie Walker the only player brought in for big money to be the star capable of taking Maccabi Tel Aviv beyond the regular season.

The yellow-and-blue opened the season with two losses that highlighted the many problems in the construction of the roster available to Oded Katash and calling it “limited” would be an understatement. There was not a single quality ball-handler on the roster besides Tamir Blatt. The signings of Jeff Dowtin and Marcio Santos still look puzzling given how Maccabi functions without the American guard and with the Brazilian big man. Katash failed to extract even a fraction of what Lonnie Walker can do, while the American guard himself showed little contribution beyond those defiant shot attempts. That last sentence could also describe what Jimmy Clark has been doing on the court. There is still no center, at least not a healthy one and if you ask me, Maccabi also lacks quality at the small forward position, forcing the team to play with three power forwards.

There was, admittedly, the derby win, achieved mainly through fighting spirit and desire, but Maccabi continued to slide afterward. A difficult schedule pitted it against the continent’s lions and it dropped game after game, turning into eight losses in ten games. Everyone on the court projected despair and gloom, while those in the offices projected indifference, in a season that already looked lost by mid-November. Maccabi’s defense set negative records on a historic scale, with helplessness and mental fragility that don’t really align with the Maccabi ethos. Its fans looked across the road and saw the Reds on top of the world, which intensified the protests against the management, who hesitated to invest additional money in strengthening the roster while the yellow-and-blue flagship turned into a submarine.

Maccabi sank to the bottom of the EuroLeague and went into the national-team break with a dreadful 3–10 record, but returned from it looking completely different, the roller coaster began climbing again. Maccabi picked up Iffe Lundberg, who brought composure and they rediscovered Lonnie Walker, who delivered passion and plenty of points. Perhaps more than anything else, what Maccabi Tel Aviv got back was its home. From the moment the announcement came about games returning to Tel Aviv, Maccabi started winning, whether in Kaunas, Tel Aviv, Dubai or Jerusalem. It even picked up a win in Belgrade.

Katash, who had been one foot out the door, found his rotations within the roster. He finally figured out what to do with the beast called Lonnie Walker (20 points per game in the six games after the benching in Bologna). He got the goods from Jaylen Hoard and Roman Sorkin at the right moments, and perhaps most importantly, he managed to wake them up on the defensive end. During this winning streak, Maccabi displayed defensive and offensive dominance (against Žalgiris and Partizan, respectively), sound decision-making in the clutch (ASVEL and Dubai) and even a bit of luck against Valencia’s comeback. Five straight wins lifted the yellow-and-blue from the depths of oblivion to a reasonable distance from the play-in battle, in just three weeks.

The euphoria faded somewhat with a blowout loss to Bayern Munich and its new-old 76-year-old coach, Svetislav Pešić. The yellow-and-blue lost Lonnie Walker early in the game and suffered a dreadful shooting night, going 6-for-25 from beyond the arc, but they also once again looked sluggish and uncoordinated defensively. Maccabi conceded 95 points, committed 17 turnovers against a team that had been on a nine-game losing streak and once again provided reasons for concern. Even if Walker’s injury turns out not to be serious, it still seems Maccabi needs additional reinforcement ahead of the second round, with January packed with difficult matchups.

After facing Barcelona, the start of the second round brings games against teams Maccabi beat in the first round, Real Madrid and Žalgiris. After that, however, Maccabi heads into a double week against the Greek teams and a tough road game against Valencia, the current EuroLeague leader, for anyone who forgot. For the first time in two years, Maccabi Tel Aviv enters the second round with the home-court advantage it so badly lacked. On the floor, on the sidelines and now in the stands as well, it has quality that on a given day can beat any team in Europe but on the other hand, it has the same weaknesses that can also make it lose to anyone. Right now, the wisest approach may be to think one game at a time in what might be the most critical month of their season, as the team’s position afterward will greatly influence the direction this roller coaster is headed, up or down.