Veteran NBA guard Patrick Beverley announced on Tuesday that he would be signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League.
Beverley, 36, announced the move via his "Pat Bev Pod" social media account.
"They gave me everything I asked for," Beverley said. "I couldn’t refuse.”
Later, the team itself announced the signing in an official statement.
Hapoel’s General manager George Chinas said, "This is a very exciting day. Patrick Beverley is joining the Hapoel Tel Aviv family. I want to thank the owners and all the management who made this happen, and of course thank Patrick as well, who during the meetings with us showed great respect for the club. Patrick is very enthusiastic about the move, he is very hungry and ready to prove and fight for the club and the fans."
Team owner Ofer Yanai added, "The General manager and coaching staff defines who are the best and most suitable players in each position, we do everything to bring them - and usually succeed. The addition of Patrick, an exceptional player with an enormous motivation to win, is first of all a significant part of the fulfillment of our desire to build a strong club and a deeper roster that will fight for all the titles, but in addition this is a player whose very signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv will make him an important ambassador of basketball and of Israel, especially now."
Terms of the contract have not been revealed, but Beverley had recently said on the account of his podcast that he was choosing between an NBA veteran minimum deal and a "historic" contract in Europe.
For a 12-year NBA veteran like Beverley, the veteran minimum would be $3.3 million, so the presumption is that he was offered more money to play in Israel and perhaps for multiple years.
Beverley began his pro basketball career at age 20 with Ukrainian team Dnipro, with which he played from 2008 to 2009. He followed that with stints with Olympiacos and Spartak St. Petersburg.
On January 7, 2013, Beverley signed a multi-year deal with the Houston Rockets of the NBA, with whom he began his NBA career. Between 2017 and 2023, he played for the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls.
Beverley began the 2023-24 season with the Philadelphia 76ers before being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he finished the season. He averaged six points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists, while shooting 36% on 3-pointers.
However, Beverley faces a four-game suspension whenever he plays an NBA game again, after he was seen throwing a basketball at fans sitting courtside at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during Game 6 of the Bucks’ first-round playoff series with the Indiana Pacers, in which Milwaukee was eliminated from the postseason.
