Two games into the FIBA U18 EuroBasket in northern Italy, David Moses has already given Israeli basketball fans a reason to pay very close attention. In the tournament opener in Trento on Saturday, the 18-year-old forward-center put up 26 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks in overtime as Israel stunned Greece 93-84. He followed it up with 25 points as Israel beat France 91-77, sending the youth national team to the top of Group A.
For those who have watched Moses over the past year, none of it looks like a fluke. Sport5 had already anointed him "the next big thing in Israeli basketball" in a profile earlier this year, and outlets including ONE and Walla have run their own versions of the same story: a 2.10-metre forward who shoots over 40 percent from three, handles the ball like a guard and is still, by his own coaches' admission, only scratching the surface of what he can become.
Moses plays his club basketball for Ramat Hasharon, where he has spent the past three seasons rising through the youth ranks and into regular minutes with the senior Liga Leumit (National League) roster. This past season with the youth team he averaged 24.1 points and 11.4 rebounds a game across 18 appearances, shooting 62.6 percent on twos and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc — numbers that would stand out on any level, let alone for a player his size.
What makes him unusual is not just the production but the shape of it. Israeli basketball has produced plenty of tall, physical players over the years, but rarely one who can face up, put the ball on the floor and pull from three at 2.10 metres. Coaches who have worked with him describe a player who can be used as a stretch four one possession and a rim-protecting five the next.
The path here was not conventional. Moses started playing seriously relatively late, coming through Hapoel Holon's youth setup before Chanoch Mintz — the veteran developer previously credited with shaping Lior Eliyahu's career — brought him to Ramat Hasharon three years ago. He has grown roughly 13 centimetres since then, from around 1.97 metres to his current 2.10, while his skill set was built essentially from scratch alongside the growth spurt.
Ramat Hasharon's head coach, Guy Cantor, has been candid about how deliberately the club is handling him. "The dominance is exceptional," Cantor has said of Moses' performances, adding that the plan is to keep using his outside shooting while playing him at power forward rather than boxing him into a traditional centre role. Asked where it all leads, Cantor's answer was measured rather than triumphant: "We're flying with this, uncertain where it leads. Meanwhile, processes must mature."
Alongside his club coaching staff, Moses works twice a week with personal trainer Avi Even, a former Maccabi Tel Aviv coach who has overseen much of his individual skill development. "He's one of the most talented players I've worked with," Even has said, noting that "every workout, you see visible improvement."
The step up to senior basketball has come with the expected adjustment. In his appearances with Ramat Hasharon's adult Liga Leumit team, Moses has averaged 9.5 points and 4.7 rebounds in roughly 16.5 minutes a game, shooting 60.3 percent from the field. Those numbers climbed through the playoffs, where he put up 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in about 20 minutes across four games, capped by a 21-point, 13-rebound outing against Nahariya.
College basketball is already settled: Moses has committed to Florida Atlantic University, which reached the Final Four three seasons ago. Even has said the fit of the programme mattered more in the decision than name recognition, and Moses himself has spoken about turning his NBA ambitions into what he calls a realistic goal rather than a distant dream.
All of that context is what made his first two games in Italy so notable. The FIBA U18 EuroBasket, running in Trento and Rovereto from 25 July to 2 August, put Israel in a group with hosts Italy, Austria, France and Greece — hardly a soft draw. Beating Greece in overtime and then France in the space of two days, with Moses and teammate Aviv Aronov (who scored 30 points against Greece) leading the way, has been read at home as an early signal that Israel's age-group basketball is producing more than one interesting prospect at once.
Moses' own line against Greece — 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three, plus 19 rebounds and three blocks in over 43 minutes including overtime — was, by any age-group standard, an exceptional performance. It is the kind of box score that travels fast among European scouts already tracking the tournament.
None of this guarantees anything about what comes next; European under-18 standouts do not always translate into first-team regulars, let alone NBA prospects, and Moses' own coaches keep stressing patience over hype. But between the club numbers, the college commitment and now a breakout tournament on a real international stage, the case Israeli media has been building around him over the past few months is, for now, holding up under pressure.
