Maccabi Tel Aviv are already plotting the next move in their backcourt, and it looks like Lonnie Walker's time in yellow and blue is running out. According to Sport5, the club and the American guard are edging toward a mutual parting of ways, and Maccabi have quietly identified two possible replacements.
One is a name few Israeli fans will recognise yet: Jahmir Young, an undrafted 1.88-metre combo guard who lit up the NBA Summer League with Miami this month, averaging 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists a game. Young went unpicked in the 2024 draft after college stints at Charlotte and Maryland, and Sport5 notes Hapoel Tel Aviv also explored signing him before opting for Eugene Germain instead.
The other option carries far more pedigree. Shake Milton spent seven seasons in the NBA with Philadelphia and the Lakers, appearing in 359 games, before moving to Europe last season with Partizan Belgrade. His EuroLeague debut was modest — 6.9 points a game while managing injury issues — though he was sharper in the Adriatic League, shooting 46.9 percent from three on his way to 11.9 points a night.
Milton is now a free agent after Partizan exercised an opt-out clause and confirmed it would not continue with him for next season, a move the Belgrade club announced on social media as it turns to other guard options. Serbian outlets have since floated Maccabi Tel Aviv as a possible landing spot, a link Sport5 also reports.
Walker's own situation has been building for weeks. Reports out of Spain and Serbia have suggested EuroLeague rivals, including Real Madrid, are monitoring his availability, with his Maccabi contract believed to carry NBA opt-out windows each July that give him a route back to the league if he wants it.
The guard's frustration with the Israeli league boiled over during the recent playoffs, when he publicly criticised the decision to press ahead with the postseason schedule amid the season's turmoil, telling reporters at the time that players were "not robots."
Neither Young nor Milton has been confirmed as a signing, and Sport5's report frames both as names Maccabi have simply marked as options rather than targets already in advanced talks. Still, the fact that the club is scouting both an emerging Summer League riser and a proven if inconsistent NBA veteran suggests the Walker decision is close.
Maccabi Tel Aviv open their EuroLeague campaign in the coming months and will want backcourt clarity well before then, particularly with the club again expected to challenge on multiple fronts domestically and in Europe.
