The Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club is proud to announce that the star of the team, Devin Smith, has signed a three-year contract with the team – through the 2017-18 season!
Smith, currently in his fourth season with Maccabi, is the quiet leader of the team. He has an incredible understanding of the game, is a winner with an excellent shooting hand from both mid-range and outside the arc as well as a superb rebounder and defensive player, and has a wonderful personality. Devin is always one of the top players, one who makes a full commitment on the court, and is one of the nicest guys off the court. He is loved and appreciated by all – management, the coaching staff, other players, and of course the fans. This coming Sunday, Smith will celebrate his 32nd birthday.
Danny Federman: “I’m happy that, after a lot of effort and many conversations with Devin and his agents, Avi Zilberman and Buddy Baker, we were able to find a way to keep Devin with us for three more years. To me, Devin’s personality represents the best of Maccabi – winner-ism, humility, and hard work. It is a great honor to sign a contract with a player who has joined the respected list of the greatest of all time, especially since, with this new contract, Devin will become the foreigner who has played the longest with Maccabi – seven seasons.”
So far, Devin Smith has scored 1,061 points for Maccabi in the Euroleague, and is ranked 18 on the list of Maccabi’s all-time best scorers in Europe. He has played 95 games with the yellows in Europe, and his career averages are 11.2 points and 5.1 rebounds.
The current season has been the best of Smith’s career so far, with Euroleague averages of 15.4 points (sixth place in the league), 6.2 rebounds (eighth place), 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and an average index ranking of 16.8 (ninth in the Euroleague). He leads Maccabi in minutes, points, rebounds, and index.
In the Israeli League this season, Smith has contributed an average of 15.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and an 18.5 index (seventh in the league).
Devin’s excellence is reflected in the many awards he has received, including the fact that he is the only Maccabi player ever to be named Euroleague Player of the Month twice – in December of 2014 and in March of 2013. He was named MVP of the Israeli Cup Final twice – this season in the huge victory over Hapoel Jerusalem with 27 points and 7 rebounds, and in 2013, when he was also named to the Israeli League First Team.
Devin Smith came to Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv at the start of the 2011 – 2012 season and was outstanding in the quarterfinal series against Panathinaikos, in which he contributed an average of 13.2 points and 8 rebounds. The following season, he scored an average of 11.5 points per game and was named Euroleague Player of the Month for March of 2013. Last season, Smith was one of the cornerstones of the triple-title dream season with 9.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He was also a standout in the Final against Real Madrid in the Euroleague Final Four, with 15 points and 7 rebounds. As mentioned previously, this has been the best of Smith’s career so far, and he was named Euroleague Player of the Month for December 2014 and Israeli League Player of the Month for February of 2015, when he passed the 1,000 career points mark in both the Euroleague and the Israeli League.
This season Smith set career records when he scored 34 points in the game against Bnei Herzliya, and took 16 rebounds in the game against Maccabi Haifa, and when he scored 26 points in the Euroleague against Alba Berlin and took 12 rebounds against Limoges.
Smith’s 1,061 points in the Euroleague Broken Down:
243 of 455 two-point shots (53.4%)
146 of 404 three-point shots (36.1%)
137 of 162 free throws (84.6%)
To date, Smith has won 4 Israeli Cups, 2 Israeli Championships, 1 Adriatic League Championship, and 1 Euroleague Championship – at the Final Four in Milan last season - with Maccabi.
The most seasons a foreigner has ever played with Maccabi Tel Aviv so far is six, an honor held by Nikola Vuj?i? and Kevin Magee. If Smith completes the entire three-year contract, he will set a new record for most seasons played by a foreigner with Maccabi, seven seasons.