Tonight: The real thing begins!

Here we go! Tonight (8:00 PM Israel time, live on Sport 3), the referee will toss the ball into the air and our Hapoel will officially begin the 2026/27 season. After a month and a half of preparation, the exciting team built here over the summer takes its first step on a journey toward one clear goal - winning the EuroCup.

Shake Milton, David Roddy, Kenny Lofton Jr., Jaleen Smith, Devontae Cacok and Dusan Miletic all joined the team this summer, and just this week another big name was added to the group in Lorenzo Brown. With an (almost) entirely new and exciting roster, and Coach Sasa leading the way, we believe it can be done.

As difficult as it is to begin another European season away from home, away from the Arena and away from you, we're coming to fight, give everything we have and make you proud. We'll give our hearts, Hapoel - and it will come.

Time to dance. The 2026/27 season begins

Our first real test will come as we host Germany's Rostock Seawolves in Belgrade, facing them for the first time in club history. It will be a special night for our opponents as well, as they make their debut in the competition, arriving after already getting into rhythm with four official games in Germany.

Rostock built an almost entirely new roster over the summer, putting together a physical and deep team that looks to use its size to control the paint and the boards. In the backcourt, one player to keep a particularly close eye on is T.J. Crockett, an experienced American guard who has already shown his scoring ability early in the season, surrounded by several players capable of punishing opponents from beyond the arc.

For Sasa's squad, coming off a long preseason and its Winner Cup games (with the semifinal coming up on Sunday!), this will be the first significant step up in competition - and, above all, the first opportunity to see how all the new pieces come together when the real thing begins.

And if there's one thing this group already wants to make part of its identity, it's fighting for every single ball. No Lose Ball.

Rostock brings plenty of size in the paint: Owen Klassen, who finished last season as the German league's leading rebounder, alongside 2.14-meter Bennett Leuchten and 2.18-meter Philipp Hartwich. That means boxing out, controlling the glass and preventing second-chance opportunities will be a major test from the very first night.

But Hapoel has plenty of strength of its own this season. Dusan Miletic brings the size, Devontae Cacok and David Roddy bring athleticism and physicality, while Kenny Lofton Jr. is a story of his own. He may give up some height against Rostock's centers, but with his strength and low center of gravity, he is capable of moving any player standing in his way.

Shake will bring experience and quality to the backcourt, and after a simply outstanding preseason, it will be especially exciting to see Ethan Burg get his opportunity on the European stage. Ethan has already shown this summer that he has no intention of giving up a single minute or a single ball, and we have no doubt that when the real thing begins, he'll fight exactly the same way.

That's the Hapoel we want to see tonight: strong, physical, hungry, and unwilling to give up on a single ball.

Now, there's only one thing left to do - get started.