Hapoel Jerusalem's pursuit of Wendell Moore Jr. just got more complicated. ONE reports that Partizan Belgrade has entered the race for the 24-year-old American forward, turning what looked like a straightforward Israeli signing into a competitive chase.

Hapoel Jerusalem had already flagged Moore as a target for the coming season, according to the report. Now the Serbian EuroLeague power wants him too, and Partizan carries obvious pull: bigger stage, bigger money, and the promise of Europe's top continental competition.

Partizan's interest is not just a rumor picked up second-hand. The Belgrade sports outlet FanSport reported separately that the club sees Moore as its primary target to replace Sterling Brown, the guard-forward who left Partizan over the summer. FanSport described Moore as a modern, multi-positional defender who thrives in transition — exactly the profile Partizan is said to be missing on the wing.

Moore, 1.96 meters tall, arrives with a real basketball pedigree even if his NBA career never quite settled. He won the Julius Erving Award as college basketball's top small forward in 2022, capping a breakout junior season at Duke in which he averaged 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field.

The Dallas Mavericks took him 26th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, but he never played for them — he was dealt to the Houston Rockets as part of the Christian Wood trade before the season even began, then moved again to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Since then Moore has bounced between rosters and two-way deals, appearing for the Detroit Pistons, the Charlotte Hornets and the Boston Celtics, with stints in the G League for the Iowa Wolves, the Greensboro Swarm and the Maine Celtics. That path — flashes of promise, no fixed NBA home — is precisely why he is now available to European suitors.

For Hapoel Jerusalem, adding a defender of Moore's draft pedigree and college accolades would be a statement signing ahead of a season in which the club will again try to compete on multiple fronts domestically and in the EuroCup. Losing him to Partizan, by contrast, would be a reminder of how often Israeli clubs find themselves outbid once a bigger European name joins the conversation.

Nothing is finalized. Both interests are still at the reported stage, and Moore remains unsigned as talks are believed to continue on more than one front.