Basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire, who led the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Jerusalem to victory in national championships, announced that he would not return to play another season.
“Although I would have liked to return for another season, the team, coach and I could not find a role that I felt would allow me to meaningfully contribute in the way I have always been accustomed to play,” Stoudemire wrote in a farewell note on Instagram.
Stoudemire wrote that he would stay on as a shareholder of the team, where he would “help make [the] team even better,” and thanked the “entire Hapoel Jerusalem organization for giving me the opportunity to retire as a champion.”
He called Jerusalem “the holiest of cities,” and hashtagged his post #shabbatshalom.
The year has been bumpy at times for Stoudemire, who moved to Israel with his family last summer. Stoudemire has called his experience with the team “a roller-coaster ride” and didn’t always get along with his head coach or Israeli officials. Stoudemire also faced public backlash after he made what many saw as a homophobic comment on Israeli TV. (He later apologized.) Stoudemire’s son was barred from playing on a basketball youth team because he was not an Israeli citizen.
Stoudemire retired from the NBA last summer to move to Jerusalem and join the team. It was a professional move for him, but also deeply spiritual. Stoudemire calls himself a Hebrew Israelite and views Israel as a sacred land that is his ancestral homeland. He was baptized in an Israelite church in Chicago called Israel of God, and also produced a documentary about the Hebrew Israelites of Dimona. During his year in Jerusalem, Stoudemire ramped up his Hebrew studies.
Contact Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com or on Twitter, @skestenbaum
Amar’e Stoudemire Won’t Return To Play In Israel
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Sam Kestenbaum
Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at kestenbaum@forward.com and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum .