By the middle of next week at the latest, a new champion of the Winner League will be announced and the league will enter a long summer break that will signal the start of the cucumber season of Israeli basketball. For Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Guy Pnini, the coming summer will be especially significant personally.
Israel Hayom has learned that Panini, who will celebrate his 40th birthday in September, considered continuing his professional career throughout the past season and recently made a decision that he wants to continue playing basketball for another season and not hang up his shoes and announce his retirement for now.
People who spoke to the player say the forward, who returned to his youth club last summer after five years, still feels 'hungry' and wants to keep playing as long as he can handle it. Panini's contract expires at the end of the season but the sides have an option to extend his contract and the Yellows will likely extend his contract if he informs them that he wants to continue for his 23rd season.
Panini. The only one who will decide for himself, photo: Maor Elkeslassy
During the month of February, Panini set a new record with 512 matches in which he participated in the Premier League, surpassing Meir Tapiro who was the previous appearance record.
In addition, he is ranked 32nd (4,236 points) on the list of the greatest scorers of all time in the Israeli Premier League and is the only active player in the top 50. One caveat that could change his decision talks about the possibility that the player will receive an offer to join the Yellows' professional or managerial staff as early as this summer.
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