Maccabi Tel Aviv star Roman Sorkin asked to be excused from Israel’s national team roster ahead of the World Cup qualifying games against Germany and Croatia, and was released after his request was reviewed because of an injury.
Sorkin joins a long list of absentees for the window. Five injured players will also miss out: Bar Timor, Idan Zalmanson, Gur Lavy, Tamir Blatt and Yovel Zoosman. As previously reported, Danny Avdija was not released from his NBA window.
Israel called up center Benya Sarur to the senior squad for the first time, while Ethan Burg was summoned for the first time since last summer’s EuroBasket. The team enters the qualifying games in third place in the group with two wins and two losses.
Croatia and Germany lead the group at 3-1, while Cyprus is last at 0-4.