Nearly a decade after leaving Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maik Zirbes has finally opened up about his difficult experience with the Israeli club, claiming that issues surrounding his contract and his move to Bayern had a lasting impact on his career.
Maik Zirbes joined Maccabi Tel Aviv in the summer of 2016 after an impressive season with Crvena Zvezda. At the time, the German center was at the peak of his career and arrived in Israel following a strong EuroLeague campaign in which he averaged 12.4 points and 6.1 rebounds over 27 appearances.
However, his time with Maccabi Tel Aviv did not develop as expected.
In an interview with Walla Sport, Zirbes reflected on the team he joined, the lack of chemistry within the roster and the circumstances surrounding his eventual departure to Bayern in January 2017.
With his arrival at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Daniel Theis joins Maik Zirbes as the second German player to wear the club's jersey in its rich history. 🇩🇪 🤝 pic.twitter.com/2zbhclUkQ0
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) August 5, 2026
Maik Zirbes reflects on Maccabi Tel Aviv
Looking back at Maccabi’s 2016-17 team, Zirbes believes the club had assembled plenty of individual talent but failed to turn it into a cohesive group.
“I think Maccabi Tel Aviv tried to build something,” Maik Zirbes said. “But we didn’t have team chemistry. There were very good players, and it didn’t work together.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv went through significant changes during that season, including a coaching change, but Zirbes does not believe it would be fair to place the blame entirely on the coach who was dismissed.
“It is difficult to point the finger at the coach who was fired then, it wouldn’t be fair. The relationships between the players were not as good as they should have been,” he added.
“Maccabi Tel Aviv is a dark chapter in my career”
When asked about his personal experience in Tel Aviv, Maik Zirbes admitted that he had been reluctant to revisit the subject.
“I was a little afraid of this question,” he said. “My perspective on my season at Maccabi Tel Aviv is very bad.”
The German center then pointed specifically to his contract and the difficulties he claims emerged during his time with the club.
“The contract affected me. There were things that misled me and they screwed me over in the contract. I fought for my rights for a long time. Maccabi Tel Aviv is a dark chapter in my career.”
Zirbes claims he was misled into joining Bayern
Zirbes’ departure from Maccabi Tel Aviv came in January 2017, when he moved to Bayern. According to the German center, however, the circumstances surrounding that transfer created problems that continued long after he left Israel.
“It is very difficult for me with the situation at Maccabi,” Maik Zirbes explained. “But I had to talk about it. For many years, I thought about whether I even wanted to talk about it.”
He then made his strongest claim regarding the circumstances of his move to Bayern.
“What happened there was ridiculous – they told me things that were not true so that I would move to Bayern, and they screwed me over. Otherwise, I would not have moved to Bayern.”
According to Zirbes, the consequences of that situation extended beyond his time in Tel Aviv.
“It created problems for me that I continue to deal with to this day,” he said. “My contract at Bayern was not good enough, and I needed it in order to play basketball. Obviously, it screwed me over, and I still have a problem with it.”
