Hapoel Tel Aviv ended its season on Tuesday night with a painful 3-1 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the championship series derby, and the club is already looking at a possible overhaul of its roster. The article lays out who is likely to stay, who is likely to leave, and which cases remain unresolved after the defeat.
Head coach Dimitris Itoudis is expected to meet owner Ofer Yannay in the coming days, and he already has a contract for next season. Assistant coach Stephanos Dedas is not expected to remain. Chris Jones is also unlikely to stay, despite Hapoel matching Crvena zvezda's offer, because he wants more money and is unsettled by the fact that his family is not coming to Israel בגלל the situation.
Vasilije Micić is still in doubt. Yannay wants him, but the coaching staff is not unified, even though Micić said in an interview with Channel 5 that he sees himself staying. Yam Madar is the biggest open question. He said, “Hapoel Tel Aviv has not spoken to me yet,” and is waiting for an answer from college programs, while Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem have checked on him. His preference is to stay with Hapoel, but not in just any professional setup.
Several players with contracts are expected to remain, including Tyler Ennis, Bar Timor, Antonio Blakeney, Elie Okobo, Ish Wainright, Itay Segev, Daan Oturu and Tai Odiase. Yuval Ziv, Igor Kolshov, Colton Malcolm and Levi Randolph are not expected to continue, with the club especially disappointed in Randolph after he arrived on a big salary and did not prepare properly for the playoffs. Guy Pnini? No, Guy Paltin remains uncertain because he wants more minutes, while Keyandre Cook and Oz Blayzer are also unresolved. Tomer Ginat has a contract but has attracted multiple offers, including from Hapoel Jerusalem. Jonathan Motley’s future depends on the coach, even though Yannay extended his contract without informing the coach.
