For the first time in Israeli basketball history, two Israeli players were selected in the first round of the same NBA Draft — and by the same team. Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were picked 26th and 27th overall, respectively, by the Brooklyn Nets late Wednesday night.
First-round picks (selections 1–30) receive guaranteed two-year contracts with team options for a third and fourth year, securing Saraf and Wolf a spot on the Nets’ roster for the upcoming season — and fulfilling a lifelong dream.
The rookies are also set for significant paydays: Saraf will earn $2.4 million in his first season and $2.52 million in his second, while Wolf will earn $2.33 million and $2.45 million over the same span. By comparison, top overall pick Cooper Flagg, out of Duke and headed to the Dallas Mavericks, is set to earn $11.5 million as a rookie.
Saraf and Wolf are now poised to become the fifth and sixth Israelis to play in the NBA, following Omri Casspi, Gal Mekel, T.J. Leaf and Deni Avdija. Other Israelis who were drafted — including Doron Sheffer, Lior Eliyahu, Yotam Halperin and Yam Madar — were second-round picks who never secured NBA contracts or minutes in the league.
While Wolf was widely expected to go in the first round, Saraf’s selection came as a mild surprise. ESPN’s final mock draft projected him at No. 31 — just outside the first round, meaning no guaranteed deal. In the end, Saraf was taken four spots higher than predicted and one place ahead of Wolf, who had been one of 25 players invited to the draft ceremony.
The Nets, who finished 12th in the Eastern Conference last season with a 26–56 record, held five first-round picks in this year’s draft, held at their home arena, Barclays Center. In addition to Saraf and Wolf, Brooklyn selected Egor Demin (Russia, BYU) at No. 9, Nolan Traore (France, Saint-Quentin) at No. 19 and Drake Powell (North Carolina) at No. 22.
The second round of the 2024 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday night. For Israeli fans, it already feels like the main event has passed.
Saraf’s journey
Ben Saraf (19, 6-foot-6) came up through the youth system of Hapoel Emek Hefer. In the 2022–23 season, at just 16, he debuted in Israel’s second division with Elitzur Netanya, leading the team to the playoff semifinals and earning both the league’s Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year honors.
The following season, he made the jump to the Israeli Premier League, playing a key role in Ironi Kiryat Ata’s run to the playoff semifinals. Thanks to his standout performance—averaging 14 points per game—he was named Rookie of the Year for a second straight season.
Last summer, Saraf moved to Europe and signed with German club Ulm, quickly becoming one of its top players. In fact, his season with the team is still ongoing. On Thursday night (9 p.m. Israel time), he will have a chance to celebrate a championship when Ulm faces Bayern Munich in the decisive Game 5 of the German League Finals.
So far this season—including playoffs—he has averaged 11.4 points, 3.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds in domestic play. In the EuroCup, he posted averages of 12.8 points, 4.6 assists and 2.2 rebounds, with Ulm finishing seventh in its group—one win short of a spot in the Round of 16.
In parallel with his club rise, Saraf has excelled with Israel’s national teams. In 2022, he led the under-16 squad to a fifth-place finish at the European Championships, was named to the tournament’s All-Star Five and finished as the top scorer with 24.3 points per game.
The following summer, he captained the under-18 team to a best-ever fourth-place finish at the European Championships. Though Israel didn’t win the title or reach the final, Saraf again led all scorers—this time with 28.1 points per game—and was named tournament MVP.
He has also appeared in four games for the senior national team during the EuroBasket 2025 qualifying campaign and is part of the extended roster for the tournament, which kicks off in two months.
Wolf’s Journey
Danny Wolf (21, 7 feet), a native of Glencoe, Illinois, emerged on the Israeli basketball radar in the summer of 2023 when he starred alongside Noam Yaacov on Israel’s under-20 national team, which finished second at the European Championship.
Before the tournament, officials from the Israel Basketball Association had pursued Wolf for over a year and a half. He exceeded expectations once he joined the squad—earning a spot on the tournament’s All-Star Five while finishing as the second-leading scorer (17.1 points per game) and leading rebounder (12 per game).
That tournament proved to be a turning point in Wolf’s career. He entered it after a quiet freshman season at Yale University—an institution better known for academics than basketball—in which he played just 7.3 minutes per game, averaging 2.3 points.
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But in the 2023–24 season, Wolf broke out: he started 31 of 32 games for Yale, averaging 14.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 2.4 assists. His standout skill—an unusually high-level passing ability for a 7-footer—earned him a spot on the All-Ivy League First Team, and he helped Yale reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Still, even after his breakout sophomore season, few predicted Wolf would become a first-round NBA Draft pick. That changed when he transferred to the University of Michigan, a significantly higher-profile program.
The move proved to be a major success. Wolf became one of Michigan’s key players, helping lead the team to a Big Ten Tournament title and a run to the Sweet 16 in March Madness. He led the Big Ten in rebounding (9.7 per game), averaged 14 points, and added an impressive 3.6 assists per game—a rare figure for a player his size. He was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and the NCAA All-Region Team, finishing the season with 15 double-doubles—tied for the most in the league.