Ramon Sessions living ‘the best of both worlds’ while playing basketball in Israel

Ramon Sessions calls it “the best of both worlds.”

The Myrtle Beach native recently began playing international basketball for the first time after spending 11 seasons in the NBA, and he says playing in Israel incorporates two of his favorite atmospheres in one: the beach and big city.

“I feel like it’s the best of both worlds,” said Sessions, who was born and raised in Myrtle Beach but now resides in Atlanta. “The weather’s always good, there’s a lot going on, a lot of restaurants, a lot of culture in the city, a lot of people just out and about. It’s a very, very, very lively city.”

Sessions recently signed a three-month deal — with the option to remain for the remainder of the season — with the Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club of the EuroLeague after going unsigned as an NBA free agent with 11 years of experience. Maccabi is one of the world’s most recognizable overseas organizations and has several players who either played in the NBA or at least received a tryout.

“The fans love it, the city loves it,” Sessions said of the club. “If you play for Maccabi Tel Aviv, everybody knows who that is here around the city.”

Maccabi also plays in the Israeli Premier League, but Sessions said he will compete only in the EuroLeague games, which includes two to three games a week against tougher competition. So far, he’s played in one game, recording 11 points, five rebounds and an assist in a loss to fellow EuroLeague heavyweight Real Madrid.

“The competition is good,” Sessions said.

The 6-foot-3 guard said he could get out of his contract if an NBA team came calling, but said that he plans to play the full three months — if not for longer. The three-month deal ends in February, a time when some NBA teams will be looking for veteran help for their playoff push.

“Obviously my goal is to get back in the NBA and that’s kind of the time when teams start picking up veteran guys — the second half of the season, right before the trade deadline,” Sessions said. “There’s a lot of things with it that works in my favor.”

Still, he said he’s very happy with his situation in Israel thus far, so he’ll let the cards play out as they may.

“Who knows what might happen?” he said.

Sessions said there is little drop-off as far as organizational resources with Maccabi compared to NBA franchises.

“It’s run just like the NBA, from the trainer to the massage person to the general manager,” he said.

Sessions said he wakes up to the beach every day as that’s where he lives over there. There’s also a big-city feel to Tel Aviv, he says, something he’s accustomed to living in Atlanta and having played in many other U.S. big cities while in the NBA.

“If you didn’t look up and see the signs in Hebrew and all this and that, you wouldn’t know if you were in New York City or Atlanta,” said Sessions, who has career averages of 10.3 points, 4.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds playing primarily as a backup with 23.3 minutes per game in the NBA.

Time will tell whether he’ll continue to be looking up Hebrew signs or English ones come early February. Nonetheless, he’s enjoying the ride.

“It’s just crazy when I sit back and realize how fortunate I’ve been just to play basketball,” he said. “Basketball took me from Myrtle Beach to Nevada, to 11 years in the NBA all across the NBA cities and now I’m over here in a whole other country still doing what I love to do. So it’s been a blessing.”

Turkey drive update

Sessions has made his best effort to return to Myrtle Beach for his annual Thanksgiving turkey drive throughout his NBA career, attending nearly every year despite coming from all over the country.

This year will be one of the outliers where he doesn’t make it as a trip is much harder to pull off coming from Israel. However, the drive will go on at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Racepath neighborhood where he grew up.

Sessions said he had a flight planned for this weekend to attend long before he had to switch gears and get on a flight to the Middle East.

Nonetheless, Sessions said his mother and sister will take the lead role in handing out turkeys and other fixin’s for those who attend.

This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 6:35 PM.