{"id":476851,"date":"2026-01-02T18:29:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=476851"},"modified":"2026-01-02T18:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T17:29:45","slug":"hapoel-tel-aviv-owner-ofer-yannay-criticizes-israeli-federation-over-malachi-flynn-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/hapoel-tel-aviv-owner-ofer-yannay-criticizes-israeli-federation-over-malachi-flynn-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Hapoel Tel Aviv Owner Ofer Yannay Criticizes Israeli Federation Over Malachi Flynn Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"237\" data-end=\"584\"><strong data-start=\"237\" data-end=\"278\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Ofer Yannay<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, owner of <strong data-start=\"289\" data-end=\"330\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, has once again publicly criticized the <strong data-start=\"371\" data-end=\"412\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Israeli Basketball Federation<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, this time following reports regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/turkey-to-naturalize-malachi-flynn-to-bolster-national-team-backcourt\/\"><strong data-start=\"452\" data-end=\"493\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Malachi Flynn<\/span><\/span><\/strong> and his potential future with the <strong data-start=\"528\" data-end=\"569\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Turkey<\/span><\/span><\/strong> national team.<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"586\" data-end=\"736\">After news emerged that Turkey is planning to naturalize Flynn, Yannay reacted on X with a blunt message:<br data-start=\"691\" data-end=\"694\" \/><strong data-start=\"694\" data-end=\"736\">\u201cIsraeli Federation is still napping.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Israeli Federation is still napping \ud83d\ude34 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BZtcTW2GYF\">https:\/\/t.co\/BZtcTW2GYF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ofer (@OferYannay) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OferYannay\/status\/2006936145796726867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"738\" data-end=\"1124\">The remark fits a familiar pattern. Yannay has repeatedly voiced frustration with how the Israeli federation has handled the naturalization process in recent years, often referencing past situations such as <strong data-start=\"945\" data-end=\"986\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Khadeen Carrington<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. In Yannay\u2019s view, Israel failed to move decisively enough to secure a high-level naturalized player who could elevate the national team.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1126\" data-end=\"1443\">While criticism surrounds the Israeli side, Turkey appears ready to act. According to <strong data-start=\"1212\" data-end=\"1253\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Umit Avci<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, Flynn is expected to become the next naturalized player for the Turkish national team. The report was revealed on the <em data-start=\"1373\" data-end=\"1385\">Fast Break<\/em> show on <strong data-start=\"1394\" data-end=\"1407\">Sports TV<\/strong> in Turkey on the first day of 2026.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1445\" data-end=\"1762\">If finalized, Flynn would follow a well-established tradition of naturalized guards representing Turkey, including <strong data-start=\"1560\" data-end=\"1601\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Bobby Dixon<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, <strong data-start=\"1603\" data-end=\"1644\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Scottie Wilbekin<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, and <strong data-start=\"1650\" data-end=\"1691\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Shane Larkin<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, all of whom played major roles for the national team in recent years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1764\" data-end=\"2018\">This season in the <strong data-start=\"1783\" data-end=\"1826\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">EuroCup<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, Flynn is averaging <strong data-start=\"1847\" data-end=\"1914\">18.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.8 steals per game<\/strong>, while shooting <strong data-start=\"1931\" data-end=\"1955\">47.8% from the field<\/strong>, strengthening his case as a high-impact international option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This season in the EuroCup, Flynn is averaging 18.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, while shooting 47.8% from the field, strengthening his case as a high-impact international option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":476852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[199,255,369],"tags":[],"rumors":[407],"typology":[183],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-476851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-euroleague","category-israel","category-national-teams","rumors-basket-rumors","typology-rumors"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/01\/3AG3029.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476851"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=476851"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=476851"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=476851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}