Hapoel “Midtown” Jerusalem Basketball Club opened its new season at a festive event at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem on Tuesday evening, bringing together the team, club management and sponsors as owner Matan Adelson shared his dream of establishing Hapoel among Europe’s leading basketball clubs.
The club has been known as Hapoel “Midtown” Jerusalem since signing a four-year sponsorship agreement with Israel Canada in 2025. The name comes from the real-estate company’s flagship Jerusalem development.
Adelson attended the event with his wife, Yahav, whom he married earlier this month. He said that while every season begins with excitement, “this season feels a little different.”
“Over the past few months, I felt that we’re taking another important step towards that Hapoel Jerusalem I believed this club could become when I first took on the responsibility as owner,” he said.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Las Vegas, Adelson holds an economics degree from Stanford University. He bought a 90% stake in Hapoel Jerusalem for $20 million in June 2023, with the club’s supporters’ association retaining the remaining 10%.
Adelson is the son of Israeli-American physician and philanthropist Miriam Adelson and her late husband, Sheldon Adelson. He made aliyah in 2021 and has since made establishing Hapoel as a regular EuroLeague contender one of his central goals.
“I want Hapoel to compete at the highest level. I want it to be a club that expects to compete for trophies every year,” he said. “And just as importantly, I want to build something sustainable enough that those expectations do not depend on one roster, one coach or one season.”
‘Building a great club’
Adelson distinguished between assembling a successful team and creating an organization capable of sustaining success.
“A great team can have one special season,” he said. “A great club puts itself in a position to compete every year, even as players change, coaches change and circumstances change around it.”
Hapoel appointed Serbian coach Saša Obradović over the summer. Adelson described him as “one of the most respected and accomplished coaches in European basketball.”
The club also retained key players while adding former NBA players Shake Milton, Kenneth Lofton Jr. and David Roddy, as well as Jaleen Smith, Devontae Cacok and Dušan Miletić.
But Adelson cautioned against judging the team by its offseason moves.
“Nobody wins anything in the summer,” he said. “A roster is not judged by the names on it before the season starts. It is judged by what the group accomplishes together when the season is over.”
His expectations, however, are clear.
“I want this club competing for every title in Israel. I want us playing the biggest games in the EuroCup at the end of the season and winning,” Adelson said. “And over time, I want Hapoel to establish itself firmly amongst the leading basketball clubs in Europe.”
Hapoel has advanced to the second and final stage of the process for obtaining a permanent EuroLeague license.
“Those are our big ambitions, and I’m not going to shy away from saying them out loud,” Adelson added.
But money and high-profile signings only provide an opportunity, he stressed.
“Budgets don’t win games, names don’t win games, expectations don’t win games,” Adelson said. “It gives you an opportunity. What you do with that opportunity is what matters.”
His responsibility as owner, he said, is to provide “the right people, the right environment, the right resources, and a club behind them that shares their ambition.”
“The real test for me is whether Hapoel becomes a stronger club year after year,” Adelson said. “I think seriously about where I want Hapoel to be five years and 10 years from now.”
‘The next generation is the future’
Co-owner Gal Mekel, a former NBA player and Israeli national-team captain, said Hapoel’s ambitions go beyond success on the court to building the next generation of fans and strengthening the club’s role in the community.
“One of our significant projects is to create and nurture a new generation of fans,” he said. “We are working on several fronts simultaneously because the next generation is the future of the club.”
Mekel said the club has introduced a program for children under 10 to attend games at Jerusalem’s Pais Arena free of charge. The goal is for youngsters to “catch the Hapoel bug and stay with us for life.”
He said the club’s new “Devotion Inspires” branding reflects a broader strategy.
“Hapoel Jerusalem has always made it a priority to be a club that does good not only on the court, but also off it,” he said.
He highlighted three community initiatives: a wheelchair basketball team in cooperation with Beit Halochem; a partnership with Mesira Menatzahat, which uses basketball to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress; and a program in which Hapoel players and staff visit schools to combat bullying.
The club, founded in 1943, has won two Israeli championships, eight State Cups and the 2004 ULEB Cup, now known as the EuroCup. It plays its home games at Jerusalem’s 11,000-seat Pais Arena.
‘This team will never give up’
Israeli celebrity chef and restaurateur Asaf Granit, a longtime Hapoel Jerusalem fan, moderated a panel with Obradović, captain Yovel Zoosman, star guard Jared Harper and offseason additions Milton and Roddy.
Drawing parallels between the demands of a professional basketball team and those of an elite restaurant kitchen, Granit asked how players and coaches maintain their intensity during the less glamorous parts of the job.
Obradović began by addressing the passion surrounding the club.
“You have to know where I come from,” he said. “The similarity between these fans and the people where I come from is very close. The same insanity, the same insanity.”
“There is a thin line between love and hate,” he continued. “Every game, people love you, adore you, and the very next one you cannot go out on the street.”
That intensity, he said, matches his approach to competition.
“I never want to lose the game. I never want to betray my family, my people, my club, my fans,” Obradović said.
While championships cannot be guaranteed, he said, effort can.
“Maybe we cannot promise the titles. Maybe we cannot promise always the best performance,” he said. “But one thing, having this team together now for about a month, I can definitely say: This team will never give up.”
Obradović described himself as an “old-school” coach but said experience has taught him that individual players require different approaches.
“I still have to feel this group of people—when I can go a bit harder, when I have to give confidence,” he said. “I’m not soft. You have to have high criteria every day to get better every practice.”
For Obradović, the relationship between coach and player ultimately rests on honesty.
“A coach has to first of all show love and respect,” he said. “I cannot lie to my players. I cannot give a wrong picture of what I think. This is where the trust starts.”
‘You spoke about values’
Granit asked the audience of a few hundred people what distinguishes a Hapoel Jerusalem supporter from a fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv or Hapoel Tel Aviv.
“Nobody spoke about winning, though you are all winners,” Granit told the panelists. “You spoke about process. You spoke about values.”
Captain Yovel Zoosman described his own approach in similar terms.
“The way I believe, the way I do things in life, I do it to the fullest,” Zoosman said. “I do my best physically, mentally, the way I approach stuff. At the end of the day, the game of basketball is full of ups and downs, and I feel like every small detail can change a lot.”
For Zoosman, that also means doing the work quietly and without seeking attention.
“I do my job. I do the best I can,” he said. “If it succeeds, it’s good. If not, I go to sleep quietly, knowing I did my best.”
Another familiar Hapoel figure returning to the fold is former player Papi Turjeman, who was recently appointed the club’s ambassador, with responsibility for strengthening ties with fans, the community and sponsors.
“I’m very excited and happy to return home, to the club that was such a significant part of my life,” Turjeman said.
The former guard spent 13 seasons with Hapoel Jerusalem and described his return as “a perfect closing of the circle.”
Longtime Hapoel doctor Jonty Maresky reflected on how dramatically the club has changed over the years.
“After 35 years with the team, I can tell you this is not the Hapoel I grew up with,” he said. “This is an expert, professional, truly international team and all the goodies that come with it. It’s really a lot of fun.”
For Dr. Maresky, Hapoel’s European ambitions should not come at the expense of what has long defined the Jerusalem club.
“My hope for the future is that the team should not lose its roots, its values and its connection to Jerusalem as it forays its way into Europe,” he said.
