By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv made a couple of big signings this summer, but the one that made all the headlines was the addition of NBA veteran Patrick Beverley.
Therefore, the 36-year-old guard is returning to Europe after 12 years to play for the Israeli outfit in the BKT EuroCup.
Talking on his “The Pat Bev Podcast,” he commented on his decision to move overseas and join the Israeli club despite safety concerns due to ongoing armed conflicts in the region.
“Safety is important. If a bomb goes off, I’m gone. But most of our EuroCup games are in Bulgaria,” Beverley said, and he also shared his excitement about being able to travel across Europe.
He did his homework and was assured there was no cause for concern.
“I haven’t got knowledge of any unsafe places in Tel Aviv now. My old teammate told me that in every apartment, there is a bomb room, and he used it to hang up clothes. He was there three or four months last season, and nothing happened.”
He heard a lot of concerning comments about the situation in Israel.
“There were comments I took blood money, this and that, and I want people to know that my decision is always based on basketball. I got family members and homies that die in Chicago every single day that no one speaks about, but when I make a decision to go play basketball, everyone now is like the smartest expert of what’s going on in the world. It’s the funniest thing to me. I’m talking to an American who played there; he says it’s paradise. He went to the beach every single day, six hours a day, and had no bad experience.”
Beverley tried to explain his thinking process regarding leaving the NBA and accepting a deal to return to European basketball.
“I don’t think I’m a minimum player, but I’m a minimum player if Kyle Lowry and Russell Westbrook take the minimum. I don’t think that’s fair to me. I work on my craft harder than a lot of guys in the NBA. Once you take one minimum, teams are going to offer you another one. I had a better season than Lowry and Westbrook. No disrespect to them, but if they take the minimum, NBA teams are going to tell me the same thing… I have a lot of basketball left, had one of my best years on both sides, especially offensively, and I feel like I have a lot more in the tank.”
The experienced guard is looking forward to a bigger role in his new team and potentially returning to the States.
“I had a phenomenal NBA career, but I don’t want to stand in the corner. The doors are always open. Who knows what’s going to happen next year?”
As he reveals, he will travel to Bulgaria to join his new teammates on August 10th for the start of the training camp. Hapoel will then continue preparing for the upcoming season in Belgrade after a short visit to Tel Aviv.
Hapoel Tel Aviv is set to play their EuroCup home games at Samokov Arena in Samokov, Bulgaria.