Amar?e Stoudemire will not be going overseas during the lockout

Posted on | Sunday, July 17, 2011 | No Comments

Fear not, New Yorkers. All-Star big man Amar'e Stoudemire's day-long dalliance with playing with the Maccabi Tel-Aviv basketball club was quashed by Amar'e on Monday via his Twitter account.

Here's his message:

The New York Post then nailed the reasons why Stoudemire would both want to play for Israel's most famous basketball team (which features Americans such as Jeremy Pargo, brother of Jannero, and former Duke guard and Israeli citizenship holder Jon Scheyer):

Playing in Israel would be a natural for Stoudemire, who has claimed he has Jewish roots, owns a Star of David tattoo, is kosher and visited the Holy Land last summer.

But Stoudemire's injury history could be the reason he is staying home. Because of his retina surgery and 2005 microfracture knee surgery, the Knicks could not get insurance on Stoudemire's $100 million contract for a career-ending injury. That is why most NBA teams shied away from Stoudemire last July during free agency and the Suns only offered him three years guaranteed.

It wouldn't be the worst thing, even for someone who keeps himself in as good a shape as Stoudemire does, to try to find an overseas gig during the extended lockout. Of course, the injury history listed in the Post would get in the way of ... wait, Stoudemire is still kosher? He made it through the season? Not bad, my man. Good on ya, Amar'e.

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