By Amy Samin
After a brief period of negotiations between Lior Eliyahu and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, the sides have reached an understanding regarding Lior’s return to Maccabi for the next five seasons.
The team’s management is extremely pleased that Lior has returned to Maccabi, and the coach and his staff are delighted that the deal has been made and made no secret of their satisfaction that Eliyahu will be part of the team.
Eliyahu thanked his former team Caja Laboral for their gentlemanly behavior towards him, emphasizing the tremendous experience he acquired in Spain last season, and explaining that he has always considered Maccabi the home in which he would like to continue his career.
Lior expressed his happiness at being able to return to Maccabi.
Eliyahu, one of the most talented Israeli basketball players ever, came to Maccabi Tel Aviv for the 2006 – 2007 season and played there for three years, after having been drafted by the Houston Rockets in the #44 slot in the NBA draft of 2006.
During his last season with Maccabi (2008 – 2009) he became the first Israeli to be chosen Euroleague MVP of the month in December of 2008.
In the best game of his European career, at Nokia Arena against Cibona Zagreb, he scored 24 points, pulled down 17 rebounds, made 6 assists and reached the astronomically high index rating of 42.
In his last Euroleague season with Maccabi, Eliyahu finished with terrific averages: 14 points and 6.6 rebounds, which paved the way for him to Europe.
In 2008 – 2009 Lior was also King of the Baskets in the Israeli Winner League, was chosen one of the top five players of the season, and won his second championship as a member of Maccabi.
Last season (2009 – 2010) Eliyahu played for Spanish team Caja Laboral, contributing an average of 8.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Lior, together with Caja Laboral, won the Spanish championship by an impressive 3 games to 0 against European champions Barcelona.
He starred in the final game of that series with 18 points.
This summer, Lior was one of the outstanding players of the Israeli National Team, contributing an average of 13.9 points and taking 5.9 rebounds in 23 minutes of playing time, and qualifying for the European Championships which will take place next summer in Lithuania.