Retired American-Israeli basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire was inducted on Sunday into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, receiving the highest honor for former professional athletes in the sport.
Stoudemire, who completed his conversion to Judaism in 2020 and became an Israeli citizen in 2019, described his journey to the Israeli Basketball Premier League after a career as a six-time all-star and five-time all-NBA player in the National Basketball Association.
“At the end of it all, I wanted to go back to a place where I had a special connection,” Stoudemire told attendees at the gala in Springfield, Mass. “For 20 years prior, secretly, I was learning Torah, I was learning the Bible, the biblical understanding of history, and I wanted to go to a place where I can live and also play.”
“I took my talents overseas to Israel, and I played in Israel, and I played in Jerusalem,” he said. “I’m there with my family and now go from flying on private planes to five-star hotels to now taking a bus. Now we were playing in smaller arenas, but I was there for a deeper purpose and a reason.”
The 6’10” power forward was drafted out of high school by the Phoenix Suns with the ninth overall pick in the 2002 draft and amassed 15,994 points, 6,632 rebounds and 1,054 blocks in a 14-year NBA career in which he also played for the New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat.
Stoudemire was raised as a Baptist, but has credited his mother’s belief that the family was descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel with helping inspire his eventual conversion to Judaism.
After finishing his NBA career with the Miami Heat, Stoudemire played from 2016 to 2019 with Hapoel Jerusalem and in 2020 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, winning the league championship in 2017 and 2020, a feat that eluded him during his time in the NBA.
“I was able to win my first championship in Jerusalem,” Stoudemire said. “I was able to now go back for my last games as a player to Maccabi Tel Aviv and live in Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Sea, living the dream.”
“I finished my career with a championship and the finals MVP,” he said. “I’m very blessed to have been able to persevere throughout my career and really be able to finish my career with a championship.”
