Maccabi locks up Baldwin for two more seasons

On the eve of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv announced that it has agreed to a two-year contract extension with guard Wade Baldwin that will keep the sides together through the end of the 2024-25 season. In his first season with Maccabi and fourth in the competition, Baldwin (1.93 meters, 27 years old) ranked second in the league in scoring with 16.7 points per game and fifth in assists with 5.0 per game. He was the EuroLeague MVP for March, too.

A native of New Jersey, Baldwin played college basketball at Vanderbilt University before entering the NBA as a first round draft pick of Memphis in 2016. He also played for Portland in the NBA before first coming to Europe for the first time to play for Olympiacos Piraeus in 2019. Baldwin has also spent a season each with FC Bayern Munich and Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. He joins backcourt mate Lorenzo Brown and big man Roman Sorkin as players Maccabi has already extended this year for the coming seasons.

"It's been a very easy choice that I'll be spending the next two seasons here with Maccabi", Baldwin said in a release by the club. "It's been a great journey this year, we've had tremendous success. I want to continue that and grow. The family here is very taken care of, it's a top-notch club, it's a club I wanted to be part of for the past two years. I'm happy it's finally come to this and I'm able to extend two years on this contract to see how things go. We want to build a club that is competitive every year at the highest level, to win championships and bring banners, and I want to be a part of this cause."

"I wish to congratulate the club and Wade, it’s a big thing for both sides," head coach Oded Kattash said. "Apart from his known basketball abilities, Wade is also a leader. He is a central piece in what is being built here, and it’s another step towards securing the team’s continuity. You can feel and see that he feels part of this club. Wade has special character, is very charismatic, has great passion for the game and brings a lot of competitiveness - it brings me pleasure to coach him."