Bryant, Blat, Itoudis and the Playoffs: The Burning Questions at Hapoel Tel Aviv

Hapoel Tel Aviv opens the Euroleague season with questions about Tamir Blat's condition, the status of coach Dimitris Itoudis and the dependence on guard Elijah Bryant, after a loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv which put it in seventh place in the power rankings.

As of the start of the season, Hapoel Tel Aviv registered 15 players in the Euroleague squad, with 12 of them eligible in every game. Last season, 10 foreign players were registered at the start of the season, while this year the team has 11 eligible foreign players, two naturalized eligible players, Carrington and Tofine, and two registered Israelis, including Tomer Ginot who is not eligible and will not be registered. If captain Timur also remains out of the squad, coach Dimitris Itoudis will have to choose another player who will not be registered, with Bruno Caboclo, Eugene Germann and Kadin Carrington among the candidates.

According to Hapoel Tel Aviv people, Tamir Blat is still injured and it will take time before he can return to full activity, despite the statement of chairman Sattio Shahm. Even after his return, given the current squad composition, the chance he will be registered for Euroleague games without releasing Germann is low, and the team will need to coordinate expectations with him about the possibility he will only be registered for domestic league games. However, if Hapoel starts the season with a loss or two out of place, the possibility that Blat will join the squad is still there.

The loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv shook the confidence in Hapoel Tel Aviv, which fell to seventh place in the Euroleague power rankings on the eve of the season's opening, after previously being considered a top contender to reach the Final Four. In two weeks, the Euroleague is expected to announce which teams will receive a contract for the competition in the coming years, and all signs suggest Hapoel is expected to be included among the eight; if not, it will have to secure its continued participation through direct playoff qualification and not through the play-in.

Coach Dimitris Itoudis' contract is coming to an end and he has not signed a new contract. Unlike the 2024/25 season in which he won the Eurocup, last season he finished without a title in the domestic arena and after elimination from the Euroleague in the playoffs, during which voices called for ending the engagement with him when a crisis broke out in January. As of today his status in the team is stable and secure.

Last season, Hapoel lost all four games in which guard Elijah Bryant did not play, and this season it opened with a loss in the Supercup in a game in which he was absent because he did not feel well. Bryant is the second most expensive player on the team after Vasily Micic. In the center position next to Micic, Hapoel opened last season with Chris Jones, Tyler Anis and Jim Muder, and this season in the Euroleague it is opening with Tomas Storneski and Eugene Germann.