Amar’e Stoudemire does not leave basketball. His retirement seems to be only partial: leaves the NBA but is still active. The player has reached an agreement to play in Israel. It will do so in the ranks of the Hapoel Jerusalem. No randomness or surprise in the team chosen. Stoudemire is a minority shareholder of Hapoel since the summer of 2013. And the majority shareholder of the club, Ori Allon, he has always maintained his interest in bringing the NBA player to Israel.
Stoudemire also expressed in the past that desire. A couple of years told the New York Post that he would like to play in Israel. The Jerusalem Post 4 days ago advanced the interest of Hapoel Jerusalem by taking the services of Stoudemire. And it was journalist David Pick the first to say today that the agreement between the parties is already closed.
Amar’e Stoudemire announced his retirement a few days ago. He is leaving behind the NBA. And he did so as a Knick after signing a one-day contract with the New York team. Now, it seems that his retirement is only from the NBA. He does not leave the sport, but has all the intention of his arrival to Israel to become a ‘golden retirement’ after many years of heavy battles under the basket in the NBA.
A different case for Carlos Boozer. The 2 time All-Star had to spend the last season inactive after failing to find a spot in the NBA as for the next season it looks like he will be heading to China as no team in the league is showing any interest in the player.
Boozer is closing an agreement with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, according to Marc Stein on ESPN, while the first journalist to advance the news was again David Pick.
The idea of the former Jazz, Bulls and Lakers player is to try to resume his career in China, but the ultimate goal for him is to return to the NBA at some point. The Lakers was the last team he played, averaging 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds with the Lakers in a very disappointing season.
The power forward, 34, has 13 seasons in the best league in the world. It was 2 times All-Star and in 2008 joined the third best team in the NBA. He had 2 seasons with averages of 20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds, 5 times exceeded the 17 points on average and never fell from the 10 point mark at the end of a season. However, it seems he is a banned player in own his country.
