By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Tel Aviv announced that the club signed guard Antonius Cleveland to a two-year deal. Cleveland, a former NBA player with the Dallas Mavericks and the Atlanta Hawks, will debut in EuroLeague with the Yellows.
Per Maccabi Tel Aviv:
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv signed Antonius Cleveland (1.96 m, 29) for the next two seasons. The talented guard played last season for Hapoel Eilat. He is an energetic, athletic, tough and experienced player with good shooting Abilities, who was also twice previously selected as the defensive player of the season in the Australian league, a First Team member and this year he even won the Israeli League slam dunk contest.
“We are very happy that Antonius is joining us. He is a player who can do a lot of things on the court,” said coach Oded Kattash about the signing of Antonius Cleveland. “He has great athleticism and defensive skills. He’s a very hungry player who wants to prove that he is suitable and can contribute at the highest levels. Of course, he also has a great character and is a good teammate, which is something that is very important to us”.
“Getting to Maccabi so quickly is exciting”, Antonius Cleveland told maccabi.co.il after signing the contract. “I take pride in defense. In Eilat I showed I can score the ball a little more and showed I can do that as well, but I think my defense is where I hand my hat on. The fans can expect me to play hard, leave it out there, play with passion and be a great team guy”.
Antonius Cleveland was born on February 2, 1994 in Memphis, Tennessee. After high school he played at Southeastern Missouri State University. After the summer league in 2017, he joined the G-League team of the Golden State Warriors and later played for Dallas and Atlanta in the NBA. He returned to the G-League and in 2021 left the US for the Australian league.
In the ranks of the Illawarra Hawks, he was selected as the defensive player of the season in the Australian league (2021/22), a title he also picked up last year as an Adelaide player. He scored 15.8 points per night, grabbed 5.3 rebounds, handed out 2.8 assists and added 1.9 steals per game. The early ending of the league in Australia allowed him to sign with Hapoel Eilat, where he immediately began to thrive.
Cleveland managed to make 11 appearances in the Israeli league, played over 29 minutes per night and contributed 17.6 points with 54% for 2pt and 40.7% from beyond the arc, pulled down 4.2 rebounds, handed out 2.8 assists and added 1.8 steals per game. He was selected twice for the team of the week, once as the player of the month and in the All-Star Game he won the slam dunk contest.
Photo: NBL