Cover Credit: Yehuda Halickman

Ben Saraf was selected as the 26th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, an accomplishment that has turned him into the first Israeli Guard to be selected in the first round of the Draft. In the summer of 2024, after capturing the MVP award of the U18 European Championship, Sportsrabbi.com wrote an In-Depth Profile Piece about the 19 year old star of the German side Ratipharm Ulm, who will be playing today (14:00 Brooklyn time) vs Bayern Munich in game 5 of the Bundesliga best of 5 finals series. Right before the Nets fans can have an opportunity to watch their new star in action while battling for a chamiponship as the series is tied at 2-2, we have brought everything you need to know about Saraf. All details in the article are correct as of August 27, 2024.

On the 31st of July 2024, the entire basketball world was introduced to Ben Saraf. The up-and-coming Israeli star shocked Spain’s Under-18 team in the Round of 16 at the European Championship in Tampere, Finland by scoring 40 points to lead the blue-and-white to a 102-89 victory. But what impressed more than anything else was who Saraf did it against; Hugo Gonzalez of Real Madrid, a projected 2025 NBA Draft Lottery pick, who put on a show with 32 points, but they were just not enough on what was a career night for Ben Saraf.

But was that just a coincidence? Was it just one night that exceeded the expectations for the 18-year old point guard? No, not at all.

That game was followed up in what was a “quiet” night for Saraf in the quarterfinals with 23 points before leaving the game with 5 fouls in another sensational 85-72 win over France. In that contest, Saraf played against his future teammate at Ratiopharm Ulm, Noa Essengue, who is also projected to be a future NBA Lottery Pick along with Nolan Traore, a point guard who is tabbed to be a a top 5 pick but was limited by the Israeli wonder kid to 12 points and 8 turnovers.

Next up, Saraf put on yet another show versus Serbia in the semifinals with 40 stellar points and 8 steals in a game that included one unforgettable moment when the 17-year old Sabra scored a potential game winning basket with 1.3 seconds to go in the first overtime but ultimately saw the Serbs come away with a thrilling victory on a triple at the end of the second extra session.

Although Israel didn’t finish on the podium, Saraf, who began the Under-18 Eurobasket with a 31 point performance in a win vs Latvia, was named the MVP of the tournament, with monstrous averages of 28.1 points, 2.4 3-pointers (36.2%), 5.3 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 steals, 1.0 block and 27.0 efficiency in 33.4 minutes per game. Saraf was so good, that his scoring average was the second highest of all-time in the competition, while he became the first hoopster to be crowned as the Most Valuable Player without winning a team medal since 1998 and the first to win the prize without having captured the gold medal since 2010.

But strangely enough, only now, due to his unbelievable tournament, which secured Israel’s place for the first time in its history at the 2025 Under-19 World Championship, Saraf is being noticed by some of the important NBA Draft voices, like Sam Vecenie of The Athletic and Jonathan Wasserman of NBADraft.Net. It is a bit odd because at the 2022 Under-16 FIBA European Championship, Saraf shone on the biggest stage, averaging 24.3 points to top the scorers list in the tournament and lead Israel to a 5th place finish while securing a spot in the All-Tournament team. All this it should be noted is without even mentioning that he has already played two seasons as a professional, but we’ll get to that shortly.

With his incredible showing in Finland, Saraf is now ranked 29th in Wasserman’s Bleacher Report 2025 Mock Draft, 20th in NBA Draft Room’s and 24th in Ben Pfeifer’s mock draft at Sportskeeda.com. If everything goes as planned during Saraf’s upcoming season in Germany with Ulm while playing in the Eurocup and the Bundesliga, the Israeli sensation should definitely be able to move past his European colleagues, who he already proved to be at their level or above this summer.

The first Israeli to play in the NBA, Omri Casspi, who was drafted 23rd overall in the 2009 Draft by the Sacramento Kings, was amazed by Saraf’s performances and commented to FIBA’s official account on X the simple but yet accurate expression following his monstrous game versus Serbia, “kid is special”. On the topic of Israeli NBA players, Saraf and Ulm will have the opportunity to play against the Portland Trail Blazers and none other than their new recruit Deni Avdija, in a pre-season game which will take place on October 16th at the Moda Center.

kid is special

— Omri Casspi עומרי משה כספי (@Casspi18) August 4, 2024

But who are you, Ben Saraf? That’s the question that must be on the mind of many NBA Draft junkies, and we’re here to give them the answer.

Saraf, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year of 2006, moved with his family at a very young age to Moshav Gan Yoshia in Israel. He comes from a basketball family; his father, Yadid, played for Bnei Herzliya in the first division and his mother Ella Amir, starred for the Women’s National Team. As a young child, Saraf used to bounce a ball near the basket outside his house all day long but he also played soccer and was known to be an excellent goalkeeper, so much so that if he would have taken that career direction he could have perhaps been an even better footballer than basketball player.

Saraf also participated in Judo as well but in fourth grade, when he needed to decide between the Judo mat and the basketball court, he put on a pair of jeans, went up to the Judo coach, shook her hand and said that he decided to go with the orange ball. “I grew up in a house that loves basketball, both of my parents played, so I didn’t really have a choice…”, Saraf said in his first interview with Sportsrabbi.com last summer when asked about how he began playing the sport. Saraf also pointed out that Vasilije Micic was his role model as the Serbian is currently playing in the NBA with the Charlotte Hornets and is a 2x Euroleague champion & Final Four MVP in addition to winning a Euroleague MVP award as well.

Saraf honed his skills in Hapoel Emek Hefer’s youth department and won the gold medal at the Under-15 World Championship of Personal Skills with the Israel National Team. Ramon Wolfson, who coached Saraf from a very young age at Emek Hefer, remembers the moment that he noticed how special a player he was. “When Ben was in eighth grade and a year younger than everyone else, he came up to me during a game while there were free throws and said, ‘Ramon, we don’t have a good group of 5 players on the floor. Right now you have to put in a shooter, we don’t have someone who can score a basket’. That’s the moment that I understood that the kid understands the language of basketball and doesn’t only play it.”

Saraf had his first chance on the European stage in the summer of 2021, scoring 15 points per game with 53.1% behind the arc for the Under-16 Israel National Team in the Challenger Tournament as just a 15 year old. Actually, it was right before that tournament that I heard Saraf’s name mentioned for the first time. “Ben Saraf’s show is about to start,” was the message I received from a well-respected European scout.

In the 2021-2022 season, Saraf was selected to the All-Youth League team and more importantly had the opportunity to play with the Under-18 Next Generation team Patras in the Euroleague’s youth tournament where his coach at that competition was none other than the Euroleague Legend, Vassilis Spanoulis. Prior to starring with the Under-16 national team at the 2022 European Championship, Saraf, then aged 16, signed a long term deal with Elitzur Netanya from Israel’s 2nd Division, after he drove interest from Italian academy Stella Azzura Roma.

Saraf had an impressive season averaging 13.7 points as the team just came up short one win of advancing to the finals of the league and seeing Netanya promoted to the top division. During that campaign, Saraf’s top performance was 32 points in a road win at Elitzur Shomron. Yes, you read correct, 32 points as a pro at the tender age of 16. Following the season, Saraf, who was named as the Rising Star and the Sixth Man of the league, played once again for the Under-18 Next Generation Team Patras, this time under Petteri Kopponen, another European great as he found his way to the All-Tournament team. Saraf also led Ramot Yam Emek Hefer to the finals of the Israel High School National Championship, but missed the title match due to an injury.

Ramon Wolfson looked back at Saraf’s decision to sign with Netanya, “When Idan Avshalom (Netanya’s owner) came and sat with Ben’s parents, there were some thoughts that it’s too early for him and that he needs to stay another season at Emek Hefer and play for the senior team in the third division. Yadid (Saraf’s dad) told me all of what Idan said would happen with Ben and I said that even if half of the things will happen it would be perfect. Every single thing Netanya guaranteed happened, from the perspective of the work and fostering of Ben, all of the conduct and game time, all what Idan said was bingo, right on. It’s a move that you need a lot of courage to make, but he went for it. Ben’s strongest characteristic is that he makes adjustments that are not just the best in the country but the best in the world and it doesn’t matter if it takes him a month, a month and a half or two. He makes the things happen. You can go to a certain team and don’t succeed and then everybody says, ‘It didn’t fit’, ‘he’s not there yet’. Ben makes the adjustment and makes everything look absolutely perfect.”

One of Saraf’s teammates at Netanya Ethan Burg spoke to Ran Kon from the “ONE” website about the prodigy, “He came to our team after the tournament with the National Team and hardly spoke a word, he didn’t speak to anyone and was very shy. As the captain, I tried getting him into the swing of things. At the beginning it was hard for me to see what everyone saw, I didn’t understand all of the hype, but as the season went on I started to understand. What really makes the difference with Ben is his maturity and how he sees the game. He thinks and behaves like a legitimate professional player, he’s amazing. I think that the NBA is a possibility and I believe he’ll get there. This kid is such a phenomenon, he’s the most special talent that there is. I love him, he’s like my little brother.”

Ariel Aizik also played with Saraf at Netanya, “In my opinion, Ben is an NBA player for all intents and purposes, I have no doubt that he’ll get there. I consider myself a good defender and guarding Ben was such a hard mission while practicing with him, when he goes left it is really at the highest level that I’ve ever seen. People don’t know how mature he is, he came to us as a 16 year old kid and it is not easy at all to play for a professional team in that age, but he just fit in seamlessly that we didn’t even feel it. He was like a grown up with us, very central and dominant, wasn’t shy about anything. I think he’s made out of material of the greats, he’ll be a huge player and he will no doubt find his way to the NBA. I’m not worried about him, it’s fun to see what he’s developing into and how he’s doing it. He works hard, has a great character and his parents and agents know how to direct him correctly. I just know he’ll be ok and I’m curious to see what will be in the future.”

Lucas Goldenberg, who played with Hapoel Afula against Saraf during that season (and also in the next one), said, “He’s a special player, he’s 17 years old but is playing in the second division like he’s playing pro for 10 years and that’s something that you are born with, not something you can practice. Of course he can develop his game even more because he’s young, sometimes when he makes mistakes people go at him like he’s 25 and he’s just 17, so it’s totally normal to make mistakes sometimes. He’ll get better, I think he’ll become a superstar and build an amazing career.”

Alon Sapir, who played versus Saraf with Maccabi Raanana, said similar words, “You don’t feel that a 17-18 year old teenager is standing in front of you, you feel like you’re playing against a player that played basketball for around 30 years. His level of maturity, how he makes the decisions, the way his brain works and intelligence are very clear to the naked eye. This kid is going to get far, the sky is the limit for him. I see him as a giant, something special and not something that you see every day.”

Gal Gilinski, who played against Saraf with Elitzur Ashkelon, also had those types of words, “It was not really fun to play against him, he’s really long, he has long arms and he’s athletic. It was not easy. I think he has huge potential. What’s special with him is that he’s really mature for his age, players at the age of 25-26 don’t have that maturity in addition to his special physical data and shooting.”

Ori Hai, who played versus Saraf with A.S Ramat Hasharon, gave his own input, “I was surprised from how grown up he is, a lot of quietness, confidence. He knows where he wants to get to and where he has come. You can throw a word to him here and there, and you see that he sticks to himself.”

Omer Ben David, who played with Ashkelon in that season, “Personally, what I liked the most to see from him is that you say, ‘He’s a 16 year old kid’, and he comes and plays like he’s in the league for many years. He should be really well respected.”

Yanir Binyamin also played with Ashkelon, “Playing against someone like that was an experience, because at the end of the day I remember rewatching the game and saying, ‘He’s a 16 years old kid. Where was I at age 16, and where is he at that age?’. It’s something else.”

In the summer of 2023 Saraf was supposed to play for the Under-18 national team at the European Championship, but an injury stopped him from participating in the tournament. After rumors of possibly joining Spanish side Joventud Badalona while also driving interest from Maccabi Tel Aviv, Saraf decided to sign with Ironi Kiryat Ata from Israel’s first division, a deal which was reported first by Sportsrabbi.com, as he reunited with his coach from the Israel Youth National teams, Sharon Avrahami. The bench boss said that this was the first time in over 30 years that an Israeli team in the first division decided to give the keys to a 17 year old player, since Guy Goodes’ days at Hapoel Haifa. “We treat him as a professional player, give him his minutes and know that there will be ups and downs and meanwhile we are very satisfied,” Avrahami told Sportsrabbi.com’s community later on.

Saraf and Kiryat Ata, a team that has the lowest budget in the league, couldn’t have asked for a bigger season. The club made it all the way to a historic achievement by punching their ticket to the semifinals of both the State Cup and the league, where they even held a 1-0 lead with an road win at Hapoel Tel Aviv. Saraf averaged 10.4 points in the league, including 19 points in his debut in a home win against Hapoel Haifa and dropped 15 points in a sensational road win at Maccabi Tel Aviv against top Euroleague guards and former NBA players, Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown. He did all of this as a 17-year old.

After one of the games, Saraf explained, “the staff and teammates back me up, so I don’t feel like a youngster on the court.” Saraf was named as the season’s Rising Star while becoming the second youngest player to do so and went on to sign a 2-year deal with Ulm, a team that was able to enjoy success in recent NBA drafts with the likes of Killian Hayes, Pacome Dadiet and Juan Nunez being selected.

As he mentioned in an interview with Noa Poplinger of “Sport 5”, Saraf, who is managed by You First agency, received advice from Tamir Blatt, the son of former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David, as Blatt used to played for the German powerhouse Alba Berlin. In the same interview, Saraf said, “When we described a place that would be perfect, we said Ulm and then the offer came which was exciting.”

During the past season, Saraf also had the opportunity to take part in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program during the All-Star weekend, news which was first posted on Sportsrabbi.com. An important note which wasn’t mentioned in the United States was that Saraf made a huge effort to participate in the event, after he got was injured in an Israeli league game and sat out for two games.

But above all is Saraf’s unique character. Yehu Orland, who worked with Saraf at Emek Hefer, gave an example of the player’s mentality in an interview to The Sports Rabbi’s Hebrew podcast, “After one of his games, I spoke to his coach and he said that Ben was outstanding, scoring 35 points and adding 12 assists. We had a rule that after games he sends me a voice message about things to keep working and improving on. Ben told me in his message that he’s disappointed in himself and that he had to improve. I smiled, because every person sees things differently, the coach told me that he won them the game. I also smiled because it showed me his relentless character and his will to be the best he can be. It showed me that he can only keep moving up, and I said: ‘with that kind of character, you can’t not come out as a player’.”

 

הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם

 

‏‎פוסט משותף על ידי ‏‎Ben Saraf‎‏ (@‏‎ben_saraf2‎‏)‎‏

Ruben Najberger, who coached Saraf with Netanya, had warm words about the point guard’s work ethic in the podcast. “His personality to me is bigger than anything. The first thing I can say about him is that he’s grateful, he knows how to appreciate every practice, game, conversation, video session. He says thank you at the end of every practice, he’s attentive at every video session and every briefing. He’s coachable at a crazy level, the passion is above and beyond, the will to learn, to accept a remark, to internalize, to work on an aspect we spoke about and come back tomorrow better at it is a phenomenal skill that not many players have.”

Sharon Avrahami, who gave Saraf the opportunity at Kiryat Ata, said similar things, “Ben is here because of decision making – almost the entire league wanted him and he chose to come to here. It’s not as easy as it looks as we’re a team that needs to win and avoid relegation. With that, we have to give him chances during the year and he played 24 minutes per game, but it’s not like he is playing because we promised him – he played because he’s good. Everyone who knows me knows that I want to win and if he wasn’t good enough he wouldn’t play. You saw, he comes in after 5 minutes have gone by in the first quarter while he’s just 18 years old and takes control of the game. But first and foremost all of the players need to learn that he’s a modest person that wants to learn and says thank you for everything. That’s the basics, he’s a great person way before he’s a great player.”

Wolfson pointed out another great characteristic that Saraf has, “People just look at basketball, but Ben is the most goodhearted kid there is, which is a great characteristic because usually at his age people always think about themselves.”

James Batemon, who played with Saraf at Kiryat Ata, gave special input about his personality, “His confidence is the biggest thing and he feels like he is the best player on the court when he is out there. That was a shocking point coming in because the young guys will shy away from the moment, but he is confident, he stays aggressive and he got a lot of work to do, but he is very talented and has a tremendous future ahead of him. So if he can keep that confidence all the way through the sky’s the limit for him.”

“He definitely has a high ceiling. He already has the strength of an adult, he does certain things in the game and in practice, and you’re just like ‘Wow, this kid is 17’, it’s just amazing. I’m already excited to see where he ends up cause he’s definitely capable of being a special player,” Amin Stevens added, who played with Saraf too at Kiryat Ata.

“Sometimes it’s hard to digest the fact that he’s just 17, he’s really outstanding,” Guy Palatin, another teammate of Saraf at Kiryat Ata said.

JJ Kaplan summed him up as well, “He does things and you forget that he’s 18. He was 17 most of the year, he has a bright future and he’s very modest even though he doesn’t have to, but he always wants to learn and I respect that.”

Amit Sherf, who coached against Saraf with Hapoel Holon, said, “He’s a very special player, to play like that before you finished 12th grade at age 17-18 is the highest level that there is.”

But how big is Saraf’s potential? “I think Ben Saraf if the biggest talent we had,” Hapoel Afula coach Roie Perel said last summer, who is someone who had coached against Saraf. “I don’t think that there was any Israeli player with such quality at his age. We don’t know how he’ll develop, but if I need to say something now about him, then I see him as an NBA player and if not then for sure top Euroleague. A player at 6’6 with such a big wingspan and with the ability to put the ball on the floor, Dejan Bodiroga was once like that at Panathinaikos, at 6’9 that did everything with the ball.”

Shmulik Brenner, who coached against Saraf with Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan, had a similar take, “I can say that I’ve seen the most talented players in my time in Israeli basketball and Ben is right up there with the greatest talent wise.”

Netanel Artzi, who played with Hapoel Holon last season, added, “When I was that age I don’t remember a player with those abilities. I really think Ben is going to be a player at the highest levels, I also wish him all of the success in the world because he deserves it and has the talent and passion to keep working and succeed.”

Saraf isn’t just a winner in basketball. He’s known for his prowess in chess matches with his teammate in the Israel Youth National Teams, Omer Mayer from Maccabi Tel Aviv who he himself has potential to play at the top levels and served as a co-captain with Saraf on the Under-18 team. The two, who are known to be very close friends, were even compared on X to Jordan & Pippen for their basketball partnership. In one of the Youth Cup finals in 2022, Mayer scored a famous winning basket even though Saraf was guarding him.

“Ben’s ability to play and just be on the floor with another star player, shows the synergy he has on the court and also off of it which is something special,” explained Golan Jablonowsky, who was the assistant coach on the Under-16 national team in the summer of 2022.

“It’s really fun, we didn’t play together for a while, since the Under-16 team. I think we understand each other, we know how to divide up the responsibilities well,” Saraf said about Mayer in an interview to Sportsrabbi.com before the last tournament.

Already at a young age, Nike saw Saraf’s potential and they made sure to sign him to a deal which he described as, “The coolest and most fun contract I’ve had.” He doesn’t shy away from the focus and microscope he is under, “I like that there is focus around me, but it’s not something that I deal with or feel pressured from.”

As to the sacrifices he has made over the years, Saraf said, “I probably sacrifice many things that I don’t even know about. But it doesn’t really interest me. I do what I like and enjoy it, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out (maybe just that I can’t meet with friends at late hours, as I need to go to sleep early)”. In an interview to the sports psychologist and former player Lior Lipshits, Saraf added, “I never go too much into thoughts of why I do it because I know why I do it. I know my goal, where I want to get to and I know this is what I need to sacrifice for it, so I do it.”

It wasn’t always easy for Saraf to deal with the pressure, “When I was younger, I was super pressured before games,” he said in the interview with Lipshits. “I even remember one game that I didn’t go to because I was so pressured, my mom spoke with the coach and told him, ‘he can’t, he’s all wound up’, so he gave up for the one game. The next game he said, ‘come, if he doesn’t want to he doesn’t have to play, he can just sit next to me’. In that game I played, but it used to cause anxiety.”

Speaking about how he was able to overcome it, Saraf said, “I think for me it was mainly a matter of time, as you gain experience at a young age. It’s an important experience, I used to be really scared from it and slowly but surely I learned to love it. It really took relatively a long time, but it’s something that happens sometimes and there’s still pressure before games. You just need to learn how to navigate it to a good place and I feel that in the last few years I really learned how to do it in a way that it would help me.”

Saraf also spoke about how his parents have helped, “They always were really supportive because they went through the same things, so now that I think about it, they helped me learn how to deal with it. My father always said to me, ‘Enjoy it, enjoy. What I wouldn’t have done to change places with you now’. When people tell you that a lot and you say the same to yourself, ‘enjoy it’, I think that the words have a meaning and slowly it imbeds inside of you. I think you really need to learn to enjoy it.”

He then added about how he deals with expectations, “I think that mindset-wise it’s different with each person. I give less importance to background noises from people who aren’t from my environment or circle. I give more importance to people that I surround myself with, that I pick and that I know they do good for me, as they have known me for many years. I think a lot of it depends on which people you surround yourself with.”

“He’s a very modest kid, even when people write articles or speak about him he doesn’t even mention it and totally disconnects himself from what is happening around him,” confirmed Ori Yarmolevsky, who played with Saraf at Emek Hefer.

Saraf elaborated on the key to his success, “A lot of self-discipline, it’s a tool that’s important for anything in life – even if friends go hang out and have fun while you have to stay home for a morning practice, this will help you in life no matter what you’ll do, if you’ll be a lawyer or a doctor.”

Dealing with tough games is something Saraf also says he has improved at, “Once, a few years ago, it affected me much more. I also played more with my friends and sometimes it was even tough to go to school after a bad game, because maybe I disappointed someone. I think that during the season with Netanya I learned a lot in the aspect of giving bigger importance to the journey rather than the results, even if I lost or failed it’s part of my journey and not what describes me at the end of the day.”

As mentioned above, on October 16th, Saraf will have a unique opportunity to feel what it’s like to play at the NBA level for the first time, when Ulm tips-off against Deni Avdija and the Portland Trail Blazers. “The NBA for me is a place to strive for,” Saraf said in his first interview. Recently, in the interview with Poplinger, Saraf said he looks up to Avdija’s career, “I think Deni has had a career that everyone dreams of so far, his improvement is crazy and what he’s doing is a dream, I see him and say, ‘Wow, he plays there against those people, it’s crazy’. It takes work to get to there and I’m willing to do it.” Interestingly enough both are known to love the beach and the opportunity to play against Avdija for the first time should definitely give a boost to Saraf’s stock.

But putting basketball aside, Saraf, like the entire country of Israel, is going through a tough time because of the war that took the lives of many innocent Israeli citizens. He has an older sister in the IDF and in an interview to the Israeli Basketball Association after the European Championship he said that the players had conversations with soldiers who suffered difficult injuries in the war who told him to play with pride for them.

“You can’t stay apathetic to that and all of us gave much more than usual because of the situation. We’re here and there are amazing people that are battling while we are playing basketball, so you need to know how to put everything in proportion.” About the opportunity of representing Israel in such a tough time, he admitted, “There was pressure. I spoke to my parents and everyone was waiting for a reaction, there was pressure. We tried doing everything as we would normally, but there was a worry and from that aspect for us as a national team it was the biggest pride. To represent the country with honor in days like these, to be in a place where everyone saw us and spoke a lot about Israel in the championship and to get many, many praises from people in Europe is very special.” After the game against Spain, Saraf told Basketball Finland, “I feel amazing. I think my friends and the entire country deserve it, I’m really happy.”

After one of Saraf’s road wins at Hapoel Tel Aviv, a cousin of his, who came home after having served 3 months during the war including having been in Gaza for two months, was able to reunite with him in what was a very exciting and emotional moment. All Saraf’s cousin had wanted to do on the weekend was to go to one of Ben’s games, who he hadn’t seen since the beginning of the war.