Starting For Maccabi Tel Aviv, Amare Stoudamire!

Amare Stoudamire

Last year, before joining the New York Knicks, Amare Stoudamire traveled to Israel to search out his "Hebrew roots".

This year, there are rumors that Amare Stoudamire might be coming back to Israel, possibly for an extended stay.

With the possibility of a lockout looming in the NBA, rumors are spreading that a number of NBA players might be going to Europe to play ball, and Amare Stoudamire might choose to travel to Israel to play basketball for Maccabi Tel Aviv for the duration of the lockout.





The Forward reports that Stoudamire sent a tweet suggesting just that:

Amar’e Stoudemire asked fans on Twitter if he should play in Israel during the NBA lockout.
“Should I go to Israel and play for Maccabi Tel Aviv during the lockout?” Stoudemire, an all-star forward for the New York Knicks, tweeted July 8.
He included the championship-winning Israeli basketball team’s Twitter name at the end of the tweet and a Knicks hashtag.

Deron Williams, a star guard for the New Jersey Nets, has announced that he has agreed to play in Turkey if the NBA lockout continues.
Stoudemire visited Israel last summer on a spiritual journey after learning of some Jewish ancestry. He said at the time that he was Jewish “spiritually and culturally,” and that he was keeping kosher.
Stoudemire’s agent, Happy Walters, told the New York Post last week that the player was not considering playing overseas.

At the same time, The Sporting News reports that Stoudamire is staying put and will not be traveling overseas:

It was reported last week that Amare Stoudemire was likely to remain in the United States in the event of a prolonged NBA lockout. That looks more likely after a tweet by the New York Knicks big man.


“Europe teams are calling, I’m going 2 stay here in the states. My loyalty is with the State of New York and the NYK’s,” he wrote on his personal account Saturday.


Amare Stoudemire is likely to remain in the U.S. in the event of a prolonged lockout. The big man tweeted Saturday that he would stay in the states. (AP Photo)
Stoudemire was rumored to be interested in joining Kobe Bryant on a possible barnstorming tour through China, and was later considered a lock to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. The second move made sense because of Stoudemire’s 2009 trip to Jerusalem, where he studied religion shortly after signing his $100 million contract to play for the Knicks.


His decision to stay home might also be linked to his injury history. There was a question as to whether Stoudemire could obtain insurance during his stay abroad because of the injuries he has suffered in the past few years.

So will Stoudamire be playing for Tel Aviv? It looks unlikely, but we'd like to see it happen.