When N.B.A. Players Go to Israel
The NBA players, had been invited to the country by Omri Casspi, who became the first Israeli to play in the league after he was drafted by the Kings, in 2009.
To finance the trip, Casspi reached out to Schottenstein, a well-connected acquaintance with ties to the N.B.A.
Astor & Black filed for bankruptcy in 2013; a former employee of the company bought most of its assets for less than half a million dollars last year.) Quick-talking and forward, Schottenstein said that he had little trouble corralling funds for the trip from corporate sponsors and private donors.
Some commentators including Dave Zirin, of the Nation, who wrote an open letter condemning the trip seized on this detail, connecting the trip with previous efforts by Adelson to combat the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, an international attempt to penalize Israel for perceived human-rights violations against Palestinians.
The trip’s organizers are not shy about their own political leanings during the last Gaza War, in 2014, Casspi tweeted, “600 missiles been fired from GAZA by Hamas in the last 4 days.
It was also, according to both Casspi and Schottenstein, about changing American impressions of the country, particularly the “super-totalitarian, apartheid image,” which Schottenstein dismissed as “bogus.” Casspi noted that planning for next summer’s trip is under way, and Schottenstein said that they have been contacted by the agents of “very, very, very high-profile, I mean top-five, N.B.A.
You’ve got a guy like LeBron with twenty million followers who are all looking at his posts, and he’s posting great pictures from Israel of him having a great time in this beautiful place,” Schottenstein told me.
(That same year, Stoudemire’s agent told New York that the player was filing for Israeli citizenship.) Stoudemire posted a photo on Instagram of Israeli and Palestinian children embracing under the phrase “Pray for Palestine,” then deleted it shortly after.
Schottenstein mentioned him to me as one of the players he’d love to invite to the country, where he could “get an education on what’s what.”) “He didn’t know what he was saying,” Casspi said.