Lior Eliyahu
(1985 - )
Lior Eliyahu is a former Israeli National Team All Star basketball player who competed in the Euroleague and Eurocup.
Lior Eliyahu was born on September 9, 1985, in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Eliyahu grew up in the youth system of Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan, but moved to Galil for the 2004–05 season to further his career. He first made a mark in Israeli basketball when he joined Hapoel Galil Elyon in 2003, winning a silver medal in the 2004 World Championship U-20 games and playing in the U-21 Championships the following year.
After the 2005–06 season, Eliyahu entered the 2006 NBA draft and was the 44th pick, taken in the second round by the Orlando Magic but never played for the team. His rights were later sold to the Houston Rockets, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Golden State Warriors. He never played in the NBA but did participate in the NBA Summer Leagues twice – 2008/08 for Houston and 2012/12 for Minnesota.
He played on Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Euroleague in 2008. The following year, he signed a contract with the Spanish League club Caja Laboral, helping them win the Spanish national championship.
In 2010, he returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv and helped the team win four championships and the Israeli National Cup three. He was selected for the Israeli All-Star Game in 2011 and 2012, being selected as the game’s MVP in 2011. He also played in the Europcup for Hapoel Jerusalem from 2013-2019, helping the team win its first Israeli championship in 2015 when he was named the league’s MVP.
He then played for Maccabi Ashdod in 2019-2020 before retiring from the sport.
[Last Updated: 4/21 by Aryeh Lev]
Sources: “Eliyahu, Lior,” Euroleague.net.
“Lior Eliyahu,” Basketball-Refesrence.F
“Lior Eliyahu,” Real GM.
“Lior Eliyahu is Retiring from Basketball,” EuroHoops.net, (August 23, 2020).
“Lior Eliyahu,” Wikipedia.
Photo: Botend, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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