With no clear path moving forward, Maccabi Tel Aviv have some tough decisions to make / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: imago images/Jan Huebner Credit imago images/Jan Huebner

On Wednesday night, Maccabi Tel Aviv's season ended somberly, losing by 22 points, their worst defeat ever in the Winner League playoffs, against Bnei Herzliya in the decisive Game 3 of the semifinal.

Free throws this season

81%14,1Points made:14,1Accuracy:81,4%Place in standings:1Record max:25Record min:6Most made FTs:James NunnallyTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

Coach Avi Even's side was outplayed from the get go. They looked flat, unable to match Herzliya's energy and physicality. Chinanu Onuaku dominated the game with a double-double, finishing with 25 points and 15 rebounds.

Scottie Wilbekin tried to do his best offensively, finishing with 22 points, but he wasn't remotely close to being enough for Maccabi.

The heavy loss suffered on Wednesday wasn't something new for Maccabi during the playoffs. In the three defeats that the team went through in the playoffs, Maccabi never looked able to provide some answers.

They lost by 18 points in Game 3 of the first-round series against Hapoel Tel Aviv, by 16 points in Game 2 of the series against Herzliya, and by 22 points in the decisive Game 3. Three of the worst losses in Maccabi's history in their domestic league, all in a span of a few weeks.

Now comes the time to start planning for next season, and Maccabi will definitely need some changes, starting with the coaching situation.

When coach Avi Even took over from Ioannis Sfairopoulos, the team found some stability and finished the EuroLeague regular season in a great way, clinching a playoff berth and showing some really good performances in the last few months of the regular season.

But let's be honest, Maccabi reached the post-season in EuroLeague mostly because the Russian teams were suspended from the competition after the war in Ukraine began.

They were helped by the decision of completely erasing the result achieved against the Russian teams over the season. Something that put other teams, like Fenerbahce, in a very difficult position, while it clearly favored other clubs like Maccabi that had worse results against the Russian teams.

In the playoffs, despite a good momentum, Maccabi couldn't stand a chance against an experienced team like Real Madrid, who was coming from a very negative end of the regular season.

The issues were always there; they were just hidden for a while, both on the court and in the locker room.

As coach Even stated after the loss against Bnei Herzliya, this team lacked consistency for the entire season. They looked like a really solid team in one game, and they were just completely uninspiring in the following one.

"I'm very disappointed to have to end the season like this," coach Even said after the loss against Herzliya. "Unfortunately, we didn't come to play as we should have for a game like this. It was a season with lots of ups and downs. We didn't have consistency, and while we had some great games in EuroLeague, we also lost in the Cup semifinals and now in a playoff series in our league."

It's not a secret that Maccabi Tel Aviv have been interested in coach Xavi Pascual for a while now. The Spanish head coach is considered the absolute number one option for the Israeli side, multiple sources have told BasketNews.

But the negotiation to get him out of the contract that he has with Zenit is a pretty difficult one. As our Donatas Urbonas explained it, coach Pascual has a lucrative contract in Saint Petersburg, making almost 1.5 million euros per season.

The Spanish head coach signed a multi-year extension last summer when Zenit looked like one of the teams destined to become part of the elite of EuroLeague basketball. Then, the war in Ukraine changed the situation.

But even though Russian clubs will most likely be out of the EuroLeague for next season, too, Zenit are in no rush to let coach Xavi Pascual leave.

If the coach wants to get out of that contract, he has to pay a considerably high buyout, and there are not a lot of teams around Europe who can offer him a better salary than the one he has right now with the Russian side.

In addition to that, if Maccabi really wants to land Xavi Pascual, they need to support him with an adequate transfer campaign since the team clearly needs adjustments.

But that won't be easy either, as Maccabi don't have a huge budget and was one of the teams in the EuroLeague that was hit the hardest by the financial crisis created by the Covid pandemic.

Ante Zizic, one of the team's key players in the last two seasons, is already on his way to Anadolu Efes, as we reported on our website. There's also a certain level of uncertainty surrounding the future of Scottie Wilbekin, the other star of the team.

Aside from coach Xavi Pascual, as of right now, it doesn't look like there's a clear alternative option for the Israeli side.

Despite rumors that have linked Serbian head coach Dusan Alimpijevic to the Israeli side, multiple sources have told BasketNews that Maccabi Tel Aviv haven't made any real approach for the coach of Bursaspor.

Zvezdan Mitrovic, another name linked recently to Maccabi Tel Aviv, was a profile that the team explored quickly but didn't move further with, a source told BasketNews.

Velimir Perasovic, the current head coach of UNICS Kazan, is a name that has been explored by Maccabi Tel Aviv, as was reported by Moses Barda of One and confirmed to BasketNews. However, it doesn't look like any negotiation will start soon, even in this case.

Without a clear idea of who will sit on the bench next season, it's also very difficult to imagine right now what kind of additions Maccabi Tel Aviv might make to their roster.

For example, in the past few months, Vladimir Brodziansky was rumored to be a target for the Israeli side, but in the meanwhile, the Slovakian forward has already found an agreement for next season with the Turkish side Bahcesehir.

Chinanu Onuaku, who was the main factor in Bnei Herzliya's win in the playoff series against Maccabi, is a profile that the Israeli side is looking at, sources have told BasketNews.

But the player is also on the radar of the Houston Rockets, who drafted him in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft.

The next few weeks will be crucial for the future of Maccabi Tel Aviv. Despite the appearance in the EuroLeague playoffs, this season cannot be satisfying for a club with such great history and tradition as Maccabi, and it might be the time for a full reset after a few complicated seasons.

However, the solution to the problem is not an easy one to find, and the path moving forward remains murky and devious.

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

Position Player Status PG Scottie Wilbekin Signed until 2023 +1 PG Yiftach Ziv Signed until 2023 +1 PG Keenan Evans Signed until 2022 +1+1 SG John Dibartolomeo Signeduntil 2022 +1 SF James Nunnally Signeduntil 2022 +1 SF Max Heidegger Signeduntil 2023 PF Angelo Caloiaro Signeduntil 2022 +1 PF/C Jake Cohen Signed until 2023 C Jalen Reynolds Signeduntil 2023 C Roman Sorkin Signed until 2023 Coach Avi Even Expired contract Derrick Williams, Ante Zizic Rumored to leave Ante Zizic (story) Interested Xavi Pascual, Pablo Laso, Dusan Alimpijevic, Ante Zizic More Maccabi transfer news Ante Zizic expected to sign a deal with Anadolu Efes Xavi Pascual, Pablo Laso among Maccabi's targets Subscribe to BN+ and get access to exclusive content.