Israeli teams' locals hesitant to fly out: 'The head is not in basketball' / News - Basketnews.com

Israeli players have expressed their view that leaving their families for an extended time would be especially tough in the situation.

Credit: Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv Credit Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

Israel is in a war state with hundreds of missiles flying in multiple locations, killing hundreds of people. Professional basketball teams are being flown out of the country, but the local players are expressing doubts.

Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv / Schedule

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On Tuesday, another flight will take players to Greece. It will include the players of Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv and their families, with only a minor number of foreign basketball players of the Israeli Winner League remaining in the country.

In the wake of the current events, the locals of the squads are hesitant to leave Israel.

"Getting up and now leaving the whole family in this situation and disappearing for several weeks is not easy," one of the players told Walla Sport. "The head is not in basketball. It'd be better to take a few more days."

Notably, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv will be transported to Cyprus, where the team will continue practicing for upcoming EuroLeague games. Both Maccabi and Hapoel's games were suspended this week.

The venues of next week's matches have been changed as well, allowing the Israeli teams to have more away games in a row.

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