Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Orthodox basketball player Ryan Turell selected in NBA minor league draft

Turell, who went unpicked out of Yeshiva University in June’s NBA draft, was chosen by the Motor City Cruise, the Detroit Pistons’ G League affiliate.

Ryan Turell, the 22-year-old senior guard for Yeshiva University’s basketball team who is being scouted by at least two NBA teams. Credit: YU Athletics.
Ryan Turell, the 22-year-old senior guard for Yeshiva University’s basketball team who is being scouted by at least two NBA teams. Credit: YU Athletics.

Orthodox Jewish basketball player Ryan Turell on Saturday was selected No. 27 overall in the 2022 NBA G League Draft, ESPN reported.

Turell, who went unpicked out of Yeshiva University in June’s NBA Draft, was selected by the Motor City Cruise, the minor league affiliate of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.

The NBA G League is the NBA’s official minor league system.

“Being the first Orthodox Jew in the NBA would mean the world to me, and a dream come true, God willing,” Turell had told ESPN in March. “But, just as importantly, it would mean the world to others that never saw this as a possibility.”

Last season, the 6-foot-7 small forward averaged 27.1 points for Yeshiva University, which competes in NCAA Division III sports.

Turell led the NCAA in scoring across all three divisions.

“If Michigan Hillel wants to remain the center of Jewish life on campus, it cannot retreat from one of the central and challenging parts of being Jewish there,” Seth Mendel, of CAMERA, told JNS.
“Your ability to find the strength to rise above the pain, to combat the immediate threat to your life, and to operate sound judgment demonstrates the strength of your character,” Israel’s president wrote.
“We tried to make it clear to them that this is a memorial that was built for those who died in a horrible terrorist attack,” Lawrence Puccini told JNS.
Israel assailed the decision as a “grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”