Casspi won’t be playing for Israel or Mac TA after all

Following conversation with national team coach, Shivek decides to release him from roster.

By ALLON SINAI
Omri Casspi in Maccabi TA uniform 311 (R) (photo credit: Reuters)
Omri Casspi in Maccabi TA uniform 311 (R)
(photo credit: Reuters)
Israel will have to manage without its star player at the upcoming European Championships after it was announced on Tuesday that Omri Casspi will miss the EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania due to injury.
Casspi went down with a knee injury in training two weeks ago, with an MRI revealing that he has a slight tear in his left knee ligaments.
There was some hope that he will be able to recover in time to play at least some part in Lithuania.
But following a conversation with national team coach Arik Shivek on Tuesday in which the player said that he doesn’t feel that his knee has recuperated and that he will need at least another two weeks to regain fitness, Shivek decided to release him from the roster.
The news of Casspi being ruled out of the European Championships came just hours after he announced that he would not be joining Maccabi Tel Aviv until the NBA lockout ends.
All the indications were that Maccabi fans would realize their dream of seeing Casspi play for the yellowand- blue once more in the coming season.
Israel’s only NBA player had repeatedly expressed his wish to play for Maccabi until the NBA lockout ends, with Tel Aviv co-owner David Federman even claiming last week that personal terms had been agreed with the Cleveland Cavaliers forward.
However, the 23-year-old revealed on Monday night that he will not be joining Tel Aviv after all due to income tax issues, although he still plans to play in Europe for as long as the lockout lasts and may even end up facing Maccabi in Euroleague action this season.
“Unfortunately, a number of significant problems, like income tax, have stopped me from joining the team at which I wanted to play the most,” Casspi wrote on his Facebook page.
“I would like to thank David Federman and Shimon Mizrahi for their honesty and understanding throughout the negotiations. I have a lot of respect for them.
“Thanks to Maccabi fans for their love and at the moment I am just as sad as they are. I’m sure that our paths will meet once more sometime in the future. In the meantime, I’m looking into several offers from abroad and I will soon announce which team I will be joining.”
Casspi has received several offers from the continent, including from Russian clubs Spartak St. Petersburg and Khimki Moscow, but the current favorite to secure his services looks to be France’s Asvel Basket Lyon Villeurbanne.
The main attraction in Villeurbanne will be the prospect of teaming up with San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker.
Parker is a co-owner of Villeurbanne and he plans to play for the team assuming the NBA lockout doesn’t come to a surprising early end.
Casspi and Parker, who share the services of agent Steven Heumann, have spoken several times over the past week about the possibility of playing together at Villeurbanne, although nothing has been finalized as of yet.


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