A day after David Musis powered Israel's under-18 team past Greece in overtime, his national coach went further than the box score — saying the raw, fast-improving 18-year-old could eventually make it all the way to the NBA.
"With the right decisions at each stage, even the NBA is an option for him," Nadav Zilberstein told ONE, describing Musis as a player capable of reaching "the highest levels" of the sport if his development is handled correctly.
The praise came on the back of a genuine statement game. Israel erased a nine-point deficit in the final 90 seconds of regulation to force overtime against Greece at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket in Trentino, Italy, eventually winning 93-84. Musis finished with 26 points, 19 rebounds, four three-pointers and three blocks, with teammate Aviv Aronov adding 30 points in the win.
Musis is an unusual physical proposition even by the standards of a competition built around teenage prospects: a 2.10-metre center who has added a genuine three-point shot to his game in only a few years of serious basketball. He grew up in Holon, starting out in soccer before switching codes, and came up through Hapoel Holon's youth ranks before a move three years ago to Ramat Hasharon, where his rapid improvement caught the attention of national team scouts.
That trajectory has already translated into a college commitment: Musis has verbally committed to Florida Atlantic University, an NCAA Division I program that reached the Final Four in 2023, as he weighs a path that could take him through American college basketball before any professional decision.
Zilberstein, who is coaching the youth national team through the tournament, called the current group "a very special team" that is "very athletic" compared with previous Israeli age-group sides, pointing to size and talent across the roster as reasons for optimism — with Musis singled out as the standout among them.
Israel closed the group phase with a 3-0 record and now moves into the knockout rounds, where they are set to face Denmark on July 29. The tournament in Trentino and Rovereto is the inaugural edition of the FIBA U18 EuroBasket, running from July 25 to August 2 with reigning champions Spain and hosts Italy also in the field.
For a program that has produced NBA talent in recent years, a teenage center already drawing NBA comparisons from his own coach — however early and heavily caveated — is the kind of story Israeli basketball will want to keep following through the rest of the tournament.
