Former Georgia Tech center James Banks had opportunities to begin his professional basketball career in a number of countries. Playing in Israel for Hapoel Be’er Sheva was the one that felt right to him.
“It was just a great overall situation for me, with the need on that team for a big like me, the opportunity to play in the Winner League, which is one of the biggest leagues over there in Europe,” Banks told the AJC on Monday after his decision was made public Saturday.
The Winner League is the top league in Israel. Hapoel Be’er Sheva was promoted into it after the 2017-18 season. The team has finished in the bottom half of the 12-team league in each of the past two seasons. Banks signed a one-year contract with the club.
Banks, selected to the ACC’s all-defensive team in both of his seasons with the Yellow Jackets, was eager to begin his career rather than wait around for a potential opportunity in the NBA in the 2020-21 season.
“I want to work on my game and try to work towards getting back into the NBA over there, putting up great numbers, working on my game, getting a better body, getting better as a basketball player,” Banks said.
Be’er Sheva is a city of about 200,000 in the Negev desert, which covers more than half of Israel’s land mass. As a tourist website describes Be’er Sheva, the city is “generally not on the agendas of many tourists to Israel.”
“It gives me time to focus on my craft, honestly,” Banks said. “There’s a lot of spiritual and holy things (to visit). I feel like that’s going to take up a lot of time, being in the middle of nowhere. There’s a lot of history over there.”
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