Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Monaco on Wednesday evening (20:00 Israel time) as the Yellow & Blue will look to win back-to-back Euroleague games to open up the season. While this won’t be an easy task with a Maccabi that is not the same as the one that fought and battled Monaco tooth and nail including in a thrilling 5-game series that saw the Principality team slipping by the Israeli squad, but it’s not one that is impossible.

Sasa Obradovic’s team has gone through some changes with the departure of a couple of critical front court players in John Brown (injured and won’t be available for some time) and Donta Hall (signed with Baskonia) but they still have arguably the most dangerous player in the continent in Mike James who also was named the league MVP last season. In addition to James, Vitto Brown, Georgios Papagiannis and Furkan Korkmaz have all joined Monaco as well as Nick Calathes who would be a very good complimentary piece for James but the guard is injured and will not play against Maccabi.

While Oded Katash’s team took the win last week against ASVEL Villeurbanne, there is no mistaking Monaco for the Lyon based club and the bench boss is fully aware of that fact. Monaco is an entirely different story.

There was plenty pf good that came out of Maccabi’s season opening win with Tamir Blatt looking mighty fine in taking over the lead point guard duties from Lorenzo Brown who departed for Panathinaikos as Jaylen Hoard and Jasiel Rivero were strong inside making one forget about Josh Nebo’s presence just a bit. Jordan Loyd, the Yellow & Blue’s big offseason addition from Monaco was brought in to replace Wade Baldwin and the NBA champ did exactly that with a 15 point performance.

It all sounds rosy, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.

After the Iranian missile attack last Tuesday where over 180 projectiles were launched at the Jewish State, according to numerous reports, Loyd’s family were not all that keen on the star guard remaining in Israel and who can blame them. It’s one thing when it’s Hamas or even Hezbollah sending their care packages into Tel Aviv, but when it comes to Iran, well that’s an escalation that would alert anyone in the free world and Loyd’s family concerns are warranted.

Sure, we Israelis live with this day in and day out and someone like myself who moved to the Holy Land making Aliyah back in 2004 accept that fact as part of the challenges of setting up shop in Israel. For someone who is here to play basketball, in essence as a job and doesn’t have an attachment to the country will obviously look at this in a totally different light and can take his wares to a number of other countries, teams and clubs.

Maccabi will try and convince the Loyd clan that everything will be ok and that things will calm down, but there are no guarantees that this will occur. In war, one never knows what may happen next.

Loyd knew when he was signing in Israel that there was a serious security situation going on, but over the course of the summer it had been fairly quiet with no real “action” in the center of the country with things in Gaza and Lebanon kind of status quo. But once again, in war, anything and everything can occur and what you may think may happen for the most part doesn’t. You can’t predict where a war will go with the IDF clearing southern Lebanon of threats to the northern communities of Israel that have been battered since October 8, 2023 when Hezbollah decided to join Hamas in attacking our sovereign nation.

There are hostages still being held in Gaza by an absentee Hamas whose leader has seemed to have disappeared and that is also another piece of the conflict that seems to have no end in sight.
Obviously, Loyd’s intentions were good when he inked a very lucrative deal with Maccabi over the summer months and the last thing he really wants to do is to pick up, find a new team and leave. But there is also a reality in which heading to a bomb shelter and having to hunker down for almost an hour when Iranian missiles are being destroyed overhead isn’t exactly hanging out and watching fireworks on the 4th of July.

When I was in the Malha Arena’s shelter with the Hapoel Lev Jerusalem and Hapoel Kfar Saba women’s players the atmosphere was generally fine and I interviewed a pair of capital city players, Israeli Shir Tirosh and Zoe Wadoux from France. Both spoke from their hearts about the situation and Wadoux especially impressed me with her words about how the club has been so close and family like and made sure to convey the procedures and protocols should the warning sirens sound and one needs to take cover.

The point guard spoke about how her family understood here decision to come to Israel as a 23-year old looking to take the next step in her career. It sounded as if Wadoux would be here without a question and be a leader of this team. But just a few days later I see on her Instagram page that she is back in France and after reaching out to her she simply explained “I had fun there and it sucks but safety first!!”

Can anyone blame her?

No.

And that will be the same case if Loyd or any other foreigner departs.

Would it be great for Loyd to stay and help lead Maccabi through the 2024/25 campaign? Most certainly. Can he along with his family and agent who flew in from the United States to Monaco be convinced? Can some sort of deal be worked out where Loyd stays abroad and only plays Euroleague games until he and his family are comfortable with him returning to Israel? I guess anything is possible.

The sooner the Loyd situation clears up the better for the club as Katash and the front office will have more clarity as to what needs to be done in order for Maccabi to compete this season. There is talk that Saben Lee is arriving from Manisa after a number of seasons in the NBA and G-League and that will be a welcome addition to the squad. But the longer ithe Loyd saga drags on, then there is also a chance that other players will be influenced and may look for greener pastures as well.

Maccabi isn’t in an ideal position and they are not to blame for that. No one knows where this war is heading and while one can say, sure listen to the instructions of Home Front Command and everything will be ok and that may be true, when missiles are flying overhead and massive explosions are being heard across the land well that’s pretty scary no matter who you are, Israeli or foreigner.

The Clash’s hit song “Should I stay or should I go” is probably running around Loyd’s head over and over again right about now. But with that reality in play, Loyd and Maccabi have a big game at Monaco tonight and winning that contest is the #1 priority for the fans, club and player as he will no doubt want to show his former team that he still has the goods.

That is where the focus needs to be if Maccabi has any designs on advancing to the Play In and Playoffs as they did last season because as the Euroleague slogan goes, “Every game matters”.