Maccabi Tel Aviv have ended Shane Hunter's loan spell early, recalling the 25-year-old center-forward from Legia Warsaw and folding him straight into Oded Kattash's preseason roster, the club confirmed via ONE on Sunday.
Hunter, a 2.08-metre American big man, signed a three-year contract with Maccabi in the summer of 2025 but was immediately sent out on loan for a season of continued development rather than joining the parent club's rotation right away.
That loan took him to Legia Warsaw in the Polish league, where he posted solid numbers: 9.2 points per game on 63 percent shooting from inside the arc, five rebounds and 1.3 blocks a night. In the Basketball Champions League he averaged 8.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
"He completes a deep and versatile frontcourt for us," Kattash said of the recall, according to the report. "He gained important experience in Europe last season. He is a big man who moves very well without the ball, shoots at a high percentage from two-point range, rebounds well, is highly mobile in the pick-and-roll and affects opposing shots with his blocking."
Before joining Maccabi, Hunter built his reputation with Norrköping Dolphins in Sweden, where in his rookie professional season he averaged 14.3 points and 8.6 rebounds across 30 regular-season games, then lifted his output to 16.4 points per game in the finals as the club won its fifth consecutive Swedish league title.
A New York native, Hunter played his college basketball at Nova Southeastern University before turning professional in Scandinavia and eventually landing on Maccabi's radar.
With the loan now over, Hunter gets his first real chance to make Maccabi's roster for the coming EuroLeague and Israeli Premier League season, competing for minutes in a frontcourt Kattash has been steadily reshaping heading into the new campaign.
