Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

A signature team in European basketball, six-time champ Maccabi enters every season aiming for greatness. Over the years, Maccabi has relied on the tried-and-true formula of complementing the best Israeli players with talented, committed stars from abroad. Tal Brody, Mickey Berkowitz, Motti Aroesti, Kevin Magee, Doron Jamchy, Earl Williams, Aulcie Perry, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Anthony Parker and Nikola Vujcic belong to the elite of all-time European basketball greats. Maccabi won its first EuroLeague title in 1977 and did so again in 1981 with Berkowitz excelling. There was a wait until 2001 to lift the SuproLeague trophy, which broke a string of five continental final appearances that ended the wrong way. The next title came soon after, in 2004. Then Maccabi became the first team to repeat as EuroLeague champion since Split in 1991 as Jasikevicius, Parker, Tal Burstein, Maceo Baston and Vujcic, coached by Pini Gershon, became a classic lineup in European basketball history.

Maccabi got back to the championship game for the third year in a row in 2006, but CSKA stood in the way of a three-peat, and the Muscovites again triumphed in the 2008 title decider. Maccabi lost to Panathinaikos in the 2011 championship game before David Blatt led the club to glory in 2014 with several dramatic late-season wins and an overtime classic against Real Madrid in the championship game. Since then Maccabi has not been back to the Final Four, but after making three successive playoff appearances, it is knocking on the door once again.