Nes Ziona presented Noam Dovrat as one of the more intriguing arrivals of their off-season rebuild, but before he has played a single competitive minute for the club, the guard has already been sent for another operation on the knee that has cost him so much of his career. ONE reports that Dovrat underwent further knee surgery this summer, leaving his availability for the start of the Israeli league season in doubt.
According to the report, Nes Ziona's staff still believe he can be fit in time for the league opener, even though he is now certain to miss the club's games in the season-opening Winner Cup, which gets underway on 8 September and involves all 14 top-flight clubs.
The uncertainty carries a financial edge too. ONE reports that Dovrat's contract with Nes Ziona includes a clause tying part of his pay to a minimum number of games played, so a slow recovery would cost him money as well as court time.
Dovrat, 24, joined Nes Ziona this off-season by an unusual route for an established Israeli guard: he arrives fresh from a season with the University of Miami Hurricanes in the NCAA, having left Hapoel Jerusalem to try his hand in American college basketball.
Before that detour, he split the 2024/25 season between Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Ramat Gan, averaging 5.3 points and 2.4 assists as he worked his way back from the injury that derailed his career two seasons earlier.
That earlier setback remains the defining scare of his career. Dovrat suffered a severe knee injury in December 2022 during a European fixture while at Hapoel Jerusalem, and surgery in February 2023 to repair the damage sidelined him for roughly eighteen months before he returned to full training in 2024.
He was once considered among the most promising young guards in Israeli basketball, named the league's Discovery of the Year in 2020 and its Most Improved Player in 2021 while starring for Maccabi Rishon LeZion, before that long injury lay-off interrupted his progress.
For now, Nes Ziona are choosing patience over alarm. The club is publicly backing Dovrat's timeline to be ready for the league opener, even as the more immediate test — the Winner Cup — will pass him by.
