Oded Kattash's new headache: A wave of absences at Maccabi Tel Aviv
The 'Yellows' will begin training towards the end of next week, but even after completing the roster, the coaching staff will have to manage without six to seven players due to injuries and national team call-ups.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv roster was completed at the beginning of the week with the signing of Keiton Wallace and the return of loanee Shane Hunter, but with a little over a week left before the start of training, Oded Kattash has quite a few headaches in his attempt to assemble his team for the upcoming season.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the German federation announced that Daniel Theis will be part of the roster for the August window of the World Cup qualifiers, including a preparation tournament to be held next week. Maccabi Tel Aviv also received an official call-up from the French national team for Jaylen Hoard, who also played in the previous window for 'Les Bleus', and he will also not be available for the start of training.
Another player whose status is in question is Iffe Lundberg, due to the Danish national team's participation in the preliminary tournament for the EuroBasket 2029 qualifiers, in which they will host the Romanian national team on August 27. The Danish roster has not yet been officially published, but the Danish federation's promotion for the game features a picture of Lundberg, who has not played for the national team since February 2025, during the previous EuroBasket qualifiers.
The three international players of the 'Yellows' join Roman Sorkin and Yam Madar, who will begin their training at the start of the week with the Israel national team, and the injured Gor Lavi and T.J. Leaf, who are not fit for the start of the 'Yellows' training.
Theis, Hoard, and the Israel national team players will only be able to report for training at the beginning of September, while Lundberg will be able to train with the team a few days earlier, assuming he is called up. This means that if Lundberg is indeed on the Danish roster, Maccabi Tel Aviv will begin its training with only nine players, including Amit Abo and Shane Hunter, who are expected at the first stage to back up the roster and be part of the team mainly for league games.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will hold four preparation games before the Super Cup, which will take place on September 17 against Hapoel Tel Aviv at the Menora Arena. On September 3, they will host Bnei Herzliya and on September 8, Maccabi Rishon LeZion, in two games without an audience. On September 11 and 13, the team will play in a preparation tournament in Cyprus against Aris Thessaloniki and Olympiacos, respectively.
