Maccabi GM Vujcic says the team won't start practicing before September 22 / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv Credit Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv have had a tough start of pre-season, with at least five players and one staff member testing positive for Covid. The team's GM and legendary Turkish Airlines EuroLeague center Nikola Vujcic told reporters that his team won't have their first full practice until September 22.

Nikola Vujcic

Position:C, PFAge:43Height:211 cmWeight:108 kgBirth place:Vrgorac, CroatiaProfileNewsStatistics

With the EuroLeague season tipping off on September 30, this is a huge cause of concern for the Israeli champions.

"It’s tough and nobody wants to face these kinds of things," Vujcic said. "We won’t have players before September 22 for the first team practice. It’s challenging. It’s something that we will need to find solutions to and improve our patience because we know it’s going to be tough.

I just hope that we will have our fans in our home arena in full capacity. This can help us get out of this mess because players always perform better in a full gym. I hope that we’re going to build a fortress, like two years ago when we were unbeatable at home. This is the key to get out of this mess."

Maccabi's EuroLeague season starts on September 30 with a home game against FC Bayern Munich.

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