Omri Casspi Dumped By New Orleans Pelicans After Breaking Thumb
Image by getty images
(JTA) — Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the National Basketball Association, was waived by the New Orleans Pelicans less than a week after he was traded to the team.
Casspi was waived by the Pelicans on Saturday, after suffering a broken thumb Thursday night in his debut with the team.
Casspi was part of a was part of a blockbuster five-player trade that had sent the veteran forward and All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans from the Sacramento Kings.
“I think he understands,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told ESPN Saturday. “We talked about it. It’s just kind of an unfortunate situation because I felt like he was going to be a guy that could help us.”
Casspi will be sidelined with the injury for at least four weeks, which is most of the rest of the regular season.
Casspi played with the championship Maccabi Tel Aviv team in Israel before making himself available for the 2008 NBA draft.
The 6-foot-9 Casspi had been playing about 19 minutes per game this season, averaging 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
