Kattash on Blatt's exit: "We really wanted Tamir, no decision was made to part ways"

Maccabi Tel Aviv opened preseason training for the 2026/27 season on Thursday at the Hadar Yosef sports center, and much of head coach Oded Kattash's first session with reporters was spent on a player who is no longer in the building: Tamir Blatt.

"There was no such decision, it's not the time to get into this right now," Kattash said, addressing the point guard's departure to city rival Hapoel Tel Aviv this summer. "We really wanted Tamir."

The coach pushed back on any suggestion that Maccabi had actively chosen to move on from Blatt. "Things simply didn't work out — it's not accurate that there was a decision," he said, without elaborating further on why the two sides ultimately failed to agree new terms.

Blatt spent three seasons in yellow and blue, winning two championships and two State Cups and establishing himself as one of the EuroLeague's most productive playmakers before leaving as a free agent this summer. Maccabi's own farewell statement at the time thanked him for his "significant part" in the club's recent success.

His move took him back to Hapoel Tel Aviv, the club where he began his career, on a three-year contract. The reunion has not gone smoothly: Blatt was recently left out of Hapoel's own preseason training camp, with Eurohoops reporting he has fallen outside head coach Dimitris Itoudis's plans and that the club is exploring options to move him on to another European team despite the fresh deal.

Kattash, for his part, is dealing with a squad that is far from complete a month before the new campaign. Seven regular contributors were absent from Thursday's opening session.

Guards Yam Madar and Roman Sorkin are away on international duty with Israel's national team, while three of the club's summer signings — center Daniel Theis, guard Gabriel Lundberg and forward Jaylen Hoard — have yet to arrive in the country.

Already in camp are the new arrivals who have made the trip: forward Bonzie Colson Jr., guard Jimmy Clark III and center Armando Bacot, who joined this summer on a two-year deal after a season with Fenerbahce.

With last season's European campaign ending in disappointment, Kattash is trying to build cohesion around a roster still being assembled piece by piece — even as questions about the club's most prominent departure continue to follow him into camp.