Elijah Bryant, the Hapoel Tel Aviv guard, did not return with his teammates back to Israel for their upcoming games in this season.
Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Asvel to maintain their first place in the EuroLeague, and travelled back to Israel for their duties in the Israeli Premier League. However, they did so without the presence of guard Elijah Bryant, who stayed in Sofia, where the Israeli side has played all their EuroLeague games so far.
Bryant, who has been one of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s best players, remained in Bulgaria in light of the concerns of his immediate family and updated the club’s leaders on the matter in recent days, after a decision was made to return the entire team to Tel Aviv. The EuroLeague approved for Israeli teams to be able to host games in Israel after a two-year absence, but Bryant is now not with the team at this moment, most likely due to this decision being in effect.
Claim Now Bryant arrived from Anadolu Efes this summer as one of the biggest acquisitions in the offseason and has been a key part of the team’s defense and inside scoring, and if he decides not to continue with the team back in Israel, it will be a dramatic situation that could easily change the landscape of the season for head coach Dimitris Itoudis. A conversation is expected to be held tonight between all the various parties, including Bryant’s agent, in order to resolve the saga and promote his arrival back to Israel.
The team is expected to train in Bulgaria for part of the coming week (due to bureaucratic matters, unrelated to Bryant), and in a week and a half they will play their first EuroLeague game at their home arena, against Crvena zvezda in Round 16. Apart from Bryant, all the other foreign players have arrived in Israel and are with the team as usual – although several other players have also expressed concern about whether it is safe for games to be played there.
Hapoel Tel Aviv’s next game in the EuroLeague is on the road, against Virtus, in Round 15 on December 12th.
