Former NBA Player Patrick Beverley Signs With Israeli Basketball Team

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The Milwaukee Bucks guard announced that he was leaving the NBA to go play ball overseas, after 12 years playing in the United States.

Patrick Beverley announced that he’d signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club in Israel on Tuesday, July 16. The basketball player, 36, shared the plans to join the Israeli team on his podcast, after considering making the move on social media. Patrick has been a staple in the NBA for 12 years, but he revealed that it was time for a change.

As Patrick shared the news that he chose to sign with Hapoel Tel Aviv, he said that the deal was too good to pass up. “They gave me everything I asked for… I couldn’t refuse,” he said on his Barstool Sports podcast, Pat Bev Pod, according to its X (formerly Twitter) account. Patrick also quote-tweeted the post with a praying hands emoji as well as a heart emoji.

On his podcast, Patrick spoke a little bit about his reasoning behind the decision and how he’d weighed his options. “I got a ton of basketball left,” he said. “If someone want to pay you to play basketball at a high level, go hoop.”

While Patrick has played in the NBA for over a decade, he has previously played overseas, after his college career with the Arkansas Razorbacks. He started his pro basketball career playing for teams in Europe, before he was signed by the Houston Rockets in 2013. His first teams were Ukraine’s Dnipro from 2008 to 2009. He then signed with Olympiacos Piraeus in Greece from 2009 to 2010. His final European team was with Spartak St. Petersburg in Russia from 2011 to 2012.

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Throughout his NBA career, he’s bounced around to different teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, and most recently the Milwaukee Bucks.

The guard played all of the Bucks’ playoff games earlier this year, but the team ultimately lost to the Indiana Pacers. Patrick did receive a four-game suspension for throwing a ball at Pacers fans during Game 6. If he returns to the NBA at any point in the future, he’ll need to serve that suspension before playing with another team, according to ESPN.