Willy Workman
American-Israeli basketball player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Willy Workman (Hebrew: וילי וורקמן; born March 14, 1990) is an American-Israeli professional basketball player for Maccabi Ra'anana of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball at Amherst. Workman holds dual-American and Israeli citizenship.
Workman with Hapoel Tel Aviv, 2014 | |
| No. 1 – Maccabi Ra'anana | |
|---|---|
| Position | Small forward |
| League | Israeli Basketball Premier League |
| Personal information | |
| Born | March 14, 1990 |
| Nationality | American / Israeli |
| Listed height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Northampton High School (Northampton, Massachusetts) |
| College | Amherst (2009–2013) |
| NBA draft | 2013: undrafted |
| Playing career | 2013–present |
| Career history | |
| 2013–2014 | Hapoel Galil Elyon |
| 2014–2015 | Hapoel Tel Aviv |
| 2015–2016 | Maccabi Ashdod |
| 2016–2020 | Maccabi Haifa |
| 2020–2021 | Hapoel Holon |
| 2021–2022 | Hapoel Jerusalem |
| 2022–2023 | Maccabi Ra'anana |
| 2023–2024 | Bnei Herzliya |
| 2024–2025 | Hapoel Haifa |
| 2025–present | Maccabi Ra'anana |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Early life
Workman is Jewish[1] and was born to a Jewish mother[2] in Northampton, Massachusetts. He attended Northampton High School before completing a postgraduate year at nearby Deerfield Academy, where he resumed playing basketball after enduring injuries earlier in his high school career.[2] Workman's father, Danny, is a longtime restaurateur.[3] His mother, Dina Fein, is a judge in Springfield, Massachusetts.[4]
College career
Workman attended Amherst College from 2009 to 2013, winning the NCAA3 Championship his senior year.[5] He averaged 10.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists for his four-year career at Amherst, earning D3hoops.com men's All-America Third Team,[6] ECAC Division III New England First Team[7] and NESCAC First Team honors in 2013.[8]
Professional career
During his first season of professional basketball in 2013–14, Workman played for Hapoel Galil Elyon[9] of the Israeli National League, the second-tier league in Israel, and was able to move to the country's top-flight Premier League, when signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv for the 2014–15 season.[10]
He was signed by fellow Premier League side Maccabi Ashdod for 2015–16[11] and inked a contract with Maccabi Haifa prior to the 2016–17 Premier League campaign.[12] That season, Workman helped Haifa to reach the 2017 Israeli League Finals, where they eventually lost to Hapoel Jerusalem.
On February 28, 2018, Workman signed a three-year contract extension with Maccabi Haifa.[13] On March 2, 2018, Workman participated in the Israeli League All-Star Game as a replacement for Oz Blayzer.[14] That season, despite Workman having his best year in the Israeli Premier League in terms of personal averages (6.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game) – his team, Maccabi Haifa, had finished the season in the last place out of 12 teams and was relegated to the Israeli National League (the second-tier league in Israel).
In the 2018–19 season, Workman won the 2019 Israeli National League Championship title with Haifa, earning a promotion back to the Israeli Premier League. In the 2019–20 season, he averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. On August 5, 2020, Workman signed with Hapoel Holon.[15]
On July 2, 2021, he signed with Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League.[16]
On August 19, 2022, he signed with Maccabi Ra'anana of the Liga Leumit (basketball).[17]
On June 28, 2023, he signed with Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Premier League on a two-year contract.[18]
