“a point of light”. This is what the media in the United States calls Danny Obadiah, the Israeli player for the Washington Wizards of the NBA, who this year also received a stamp for his professional abilities with an impressive contract of 55 million dollars for four years. Danny, the humble boy who grew up in the youth department of Maccabi Tel Aviv and was closely nurtured by his father, the legendary former basketball player Zoper Obadiah.
Avdia signed almost every significant achievement in the Israeli basketball industry, including two gold medals with the reserve teams in the European Championships (2019-2020), and the highest selection of an Israeli player in the draft of the best league in the world. “It is a great privilege for me to be an ambassador of sports for our special country, certainly now. An amazing feeling, certainly these days”, he says from his home in Washington, USA.
Lovdia has three championships in Israel on his resume, he was crowned MVP of the European Under-20 Championship in 2019, and he even won the title of MVP of the Israeli league in 2020 – the youngest ever. “I feel the love and support in every hall I come to play in, we are a special country that loves its representatives, and I feel enveloped in love.”
In November 2020, Obadiah entered the NBA draft and was selected by the Washington Wizards. Since then, he has posted nice averages and several personal bests, including one of only five players who played in all 82 games in the 2022 season.
In addition to the sporting success, Obadiah in recent months also dealt with the consequences of the “Iron Swords” war, which broke out on the seventh of October. He made sure to talk about it on every stage, thanked the Israeli and Jewish audience that came to see him play, and continued his emotional connection to the State of Israel, which was also expressed in the past in the writing on his shoes in reference to the events taking place in Israel. With the outbreak of the war, he was even harnessed together with other leading Israeli athletes such as Manor Solomon who plays for Tottenham in the English Premier League, the Olympic champion Linoi Ashram, and other Israeli judo champions.
Avdia says – “I chose to do my best to become an information ambassador for the State of Israel. It’s not easy to combine basketball with advocacy, the days are short, but I’m trying to do my best to make the world understand the real reality and what our country is going through.
At the beginning of the war, there were a lot of questions in the dressing room about the subject, and I felt obliged to answer and explain the reality in Israel to everyone who asked. I will not stop until the last of the kidnapped returns home safely. Today I am mostly asked if my family and friends are healthy and well.”
It is important for me to send a big hug to the entire State of Israel, the soldiers of the IDF and the security forces. I share in the grief of the families of the fallen and pray for the safe and speedy return of all the abductees.”
