Maccabi Tel Aviv signs former NBA player Alex Poythress

JERUSALEM, June 21– Israeli Euroleague basketball club Maccabi Tel Aviv have signed former NBA player Alex Poythress on a two-year contract, the Israeli club announced on Tuesday. The 28- year-old U.S. power forward played college basketball at the Kentucky Wildcats, and in 2017 began his NBA career. That included a total of 52 games for the Philadelphia 76 ers,…

JERUSALEM, June 21 (Xinhua) — Israeli Euroleague basketball club Maccabi Tel Aviv have signed former NBA player Alex Poythress on a two-year contract, the Israeli club announced on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old U.S. power forward played college basketball at the Kentucky Wildcats, and in 2017 began his NBA career.

That included a total of 52 games for the Philadelphia 76ers, the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks, in which he averaged 3.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game.

In the summer of 2019, Poythress moved to China after signing with the Jilin Northeast Tigers, but as the CBA season started he joined the Turkish side Galatasaray.

After half a year, he moved to the Euroleague and VTB League club Zenit St. Petersburg, where he played for the two last seasons.

Earlier this month, Poythress and his Russian team celebrated winning the VTB title, breaking a nine-year CSKA Moscow streak with a 4-3 win in the final series.

“Alex is a fantastic athlete who plays on both ends of the floor”, stated Maccabi’s head coach Oded Kattash. “He is also a high-level person who comes from a great athletic background.”

“I had a great talk with coach Oded. I’m excited to come to Tel Aviv and meet the amazing fan base,” Poythress said. Enditem