Johnanthan Motley is expected to leave Hapoel Tel Aviv despite joining the club a couple of months before. The news was broke out first by Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net. According to the official announcement by Hapoel, Motley arrived in the team’s practice facility to pick up his personal belongings.
As Barkas notes, Zvezda wanted the American center available for tonight’s game against Panathinaikos, but the deal did not materialize on time. Motley could return to the EuroLeague after a brief stint in the EuroCup with Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Before the summer of 2024, he spent two seasons with Fenerbahce, reaching the EuroLeague Final Four last season. Zvezda was reported as a potential destination but the Serbian club’s sports director, Milan Dozet denied the report.
“I have nothing to say about that topic when my club does not participate in it,” Dozet said to Rada Nikolic of SportKlub.
“Allegedly, Fenerbahce, Maccabi, and even Dubai called the player; I don’t know why they’re (reports) now attached to Zvezda.”
With Joel Bolomboy’s status unclear as the Zvezda’s breakout star deals with a knee injury, the club could have wanted to bring in additional depth in the center position. However, they recently added Filip Petrusev, who joined the team on loan from Olympiacos.
As for Hapoel Tel Aviv, the team announced that he will engage through legal channels, as the player signed a 2-year deal the previous summer without any exit clause in the contract.
This season, Motley is averaging 17.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists through six EuroCup games this season.
בשעות הלילה המאוחרות נודע לנו שג'ונתן מוטלי הגיע להיכל קבוצת שלמה על מנת לאסוף את חפציו.
השחק נקט בימים האחרונים פעולות שאינן עומדות בהלימה להסכם הנדיב שנחתם עמו.
המועדון החל לפעול באפיקים המשפטיים הרלוונטיים.
אנו רואים בחומרה רבה את מעשיו של השחקן, שחתום במועדון לשנתיים.… pic.twitter.com/KvrNkJsP8q
— Hapoel Tel Aviv BC (@HapoelTLVBC) November 1, 2024
