Armando Bacot Jr. landed in Israel on Monday as Maccabi Tel Aviv's newest centre, and by the time he stepped off a ten-hour flight from the United States he already had a message ready for the yellow-and-blue faithful.
"Fans can expect a lot of effort from me. I will do everything necessary to bring victories," Bacot told ONE on arrival, setting out his stall before he has even trained with his new teammates.
Of the journey itself he was unbothered: "The flight was completely fine — a ten-hour flight, sure, but it wasn't so bad," he said.
The 26-year-old, 2.08-metre American arrives on a two-year contract after a debut European season at Fenerbahçe, where he helped the Istanbul club to the Turkish league title, cup and super cup, though his own EuroLeague minutes were limited — roughly ten a game, for 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds across 26 appearances.
Before Turkey, Bacot built his name at North Carolina, where he set the program's all-time records for rebounds and double-doubles across a school-record 171 games. He then spent a season with the Memphis Grizzlies' G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, putting up 16.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game — numbers that never quite carried over to his rookie year in Turkey.
Head coach Oded Katash, who has led Maccabi to three Israeli championships since returning to the club in 2022, said the club had tracked Bacot for some time: "Armando Bacot is a player we've been following for a long time. He's tall and talented with very high-level offensive abilities. We're confident he has a lot to improve on, and we like that."
Bacot said teammates had already sold him on his new home: "All my teammates said Tel Aviv is the most beautiful place they've played, so I'm very excited," he said.
He joins a reshaped Maccabi frontcourt as the club builds toward the 2026-27 EuroLeague campaign, with the ex-Tar Heel now tasked with proving, in Katash's system, the dominance he showed in college and the G League but has yet to fully replicate in Europe.
