Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrates the end of the Euroleague regular season (Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball)
Maccabi Tel Aviv officially announced today (Sunday) the extension of the contract of the American star Wade Baldwin.
The Guard, whose summary we first published in Walla!
Sport, signed for two more years, until the end of the 2024/25 season, thus joining Lorenzo Brown and Roman Sorkin, who also signed a contract extension earlier this season.
Baldwin, who recently celebrated his 27th birthday, arrived in Israel last summer and Maccabi Tel Aviv will actually be the first team he will play for at least two years in a row.
As I recall, David Blatt, who returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv this season as the chairman of the professional committee, was the coach who landed the American in Europe when he was at Olympiakos, at the start of the 2019/20 season. Then Baldwin moved to Bayern Munich and Baskonia.
Not leaving anywhere.
Baldwin (Photo: Danny Maron)
In the last month and a half, when the Yellows went on an impressive winning streak that made themselves legitimate candidates to qualify for the Final Four after starting a season where it seemed they would stay out of the playoffs, Baldwin became the main executor.
Number 5 in yellow was even chosen as the outstanding player in the Euroleague for the month of March, an achievement that no player from Maccabi Tel Aviv has recorded since January 2019. The scorer finished the regular season in the Euroleague with an average of 16.7 points per game, the second highest in the factory and the fifth in Maccabi Tel Aviv's 22 years in the Euroleague after Anthony Parker in 2005 (18 points), Nikola Vujic in 2003 (17.6), Andrew Goodluck in 2017 (17.3) and another season of Vujic (16.8 in 2004).
Baldwin averaged 5 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.
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"It was a very easy choice to stay for the next two seasons at Maccabi," Baldwin told the club's official website.
"It's been a great journey this season, we've had tremendous success, and I want to continue it and grow. My family is taken care of here, it's a club at the highest level, a club I wanted to be a part of for the last two years. I'm happy that it finally happened and that I can extend the contract for two years and see how things will progress. We want to build a club that is competitive every year at the highest level, win titles and add trophies to the cupboard and I want to take part in this mission."
Coach Oded Ketch commented on the signing: "I want to congratulate the club and Wade, this is a big thing for both sides. Beyond his abilities, which are obvious to everyone, Wade is also a leader. He is a very central part of what has been built here, it is another layer in the continuity and the good things that are happening here this year I enjoy the first day coaching him and that's a big thing for everyone. You can see and feel that he feels part of the club. He is one of our leaders, if not our leader together with Lorenzo. The special nature of both of them, that they support each other, is one of the things that helped us In more difficult moments, and even today when we are better. Wade is a very special personality, he is very charismatic, with a great passion for the game, he brings a lot of competitiveness - and it is a great pleasure to coach him."
Avi Even, the incoming sporting director of Maccabi Tel Aviv, added: "We are happy that Wade has signed for two more years at Maccabi. He is a very significant part of our family and without a doubt one of the team's leaders on and off the floor. His signing is an important and additional part of our long-term development and plan to build A quality staff that will stay with us for a long time."
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Wade Baldwin
Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball