With six Hapoel Jerusalem players landing, there was plenty of action at Ben Gurion Airport for the Reds fans who welcomed them back to Israel. Josiah-Jordan James arrived in the morning while Austin Wiley, Jared Harper, Cassius Winston, Justin Smith and Dmytro Skapintsev were welcomed in the afternoon. Winston along with Smith and Skapintsev all spoke about the upcoming 2025/26 season as Jerusalem will look to win the EuroCup and also the league.

“It’s amazing to be here,” an excited Winston said. “It’s my first time getting welcomed by fans from the club at the airport, it’s going to be electric and I feel the love. I heard it’s an amazing organization, group of great players, coaches and staff, we want to compete, the fans the team the city, we will do our best.”

Winston and Harper are familiar with one another and the newcomer is happy to have the opportunity to play with last season’s MVP, “I’m excited, Harper is a dynamic player and an amazing talent. I’ve been watching him, I know what he is capable of. I’m trying to come in figure out my role and help the team as much as possible.”

As for the team itself, Winston is looking forward to being part of the reds, “I think we will have a well balanced team. We can fit into any style, we can slow it down we can speed it up, we got everything you need in that floor, it’s just a matter of us getting on the floor and making it happen.”

Winston also spoke about the goals he sees for the club with finding a way to the Euroelague through by winning the EuroCup as one of them, We want to take it as far as we possibly can. The sky is the limit for this group. We will work hard during preseason and just as we get better as the season goes. That’s the goal for sure (to be the third Israeli team in the Euroleague).”

Skapintsev shared his thoughts on joining Jerusalem and what the club is aiming for, “I’m very excited to come here and play for this team. I like the team ambitions regarding the EuroCup and the Israeli league. So that’s why I’m here. I was told that we have a very good roster to fight for the EuroCup. The club was close last year. This year the goal is to get it done. I’m pretty sure on paper we can go all the way in the EuroCup.”

Smith, who is entering his third season in Israel and second with Jerusalem, also spoke about the campaign ahead while looking back at last season, “It’s good to be back. I think we would have had a really good shot in wining the championship and we had momentum in the series. We felt like we could have won the first game. I think going into that last game with confidence we would have won. I think both teams would have like to play the last game, but no winner or two winners it doesn’t matter.”

“We wanted to build up what we started last year. We brought in a few guys and lost a few guys, but we will try and get them acclimated and as comfortable as quickly as possible. I think we can do a lot of damage. It’s always Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv who are the main rivals. I think with the team and coaches we have we are comfortable with each other and know what is expected from us. We should be 100% be competing for championships at all levels.”