Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Toronto Raptors Will Visit Israel If Team Wins NBA Title, Jewish Co-Owner Says

(JTA) — The Toronto Raptors are one win away from the NBA championship — and a free trip to Israel.

The team’s Jewish billionaire co-owner, Larry Tanenbaum, said he will bring the club to visit if it wins the title.

The Raptors are up 3 games to 1 in the best-of-7 Finals over the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors. But the Canadian squad could not seal the deal at home in Game 5 on Tuesday, losing by a point, and must win either at Golden State on Thursday in San Francisco or at home in the decider to take the basketball crown.

Israel’s Sport 5 reported last week that during a low-key visit to Israel in April, Tanenbaum told several people he met in the Jewish state that “If we win the NBA championship, I will come with the Toronto Raptors to visit the Holy Land.”

Tanenbaum is active and philanthropic in the local Jewish community and was a founder of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

He is the chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., which is the parent company of the Raptors as well as the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs,  Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. He also currently serves as the board chairman of the NBA, and as a member of the board of governors of the NHL and Major League Soccer.

He made his fortune in construction and investments, and serves as CEO of the Toronto-based Kilmer Van Nostrand Co. Ltd., a civil engineering construction company. His net worth is estimated at about $1.53 billion.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.