Jeff Adrien Signing Professional Contract in Israel

Former UConn Husky forward Jeff Adrien, who was captain of the 2009 Final Four team as a senior, has signed a deal with Israeli League team Bnei Herzliya, per international basketball writer David Pick. ESPN’s Marc Spears adds that Adrien had interest from teams in Spain and China as well.

After going undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Brookline, Mass. native had to take the hard path to achieving his professional dreams. He played in the NBA Summer League before ultimately signing for one year with a team in LEB Oro, Spain’s second league.

The next year, he was invited to play in the NBA Summer League again, earning an invitation to training camp with the Golden State Warriors. He made the final roster after the preseason but was waived in December and finished the season in the D-League.

Adrien re-joined the Warriors in 2011 but was eventually waived once again. He spent the next two years bouncing back and forth between the NBA, D-League, and international teams before finding some stability when the Charlotte Bobcats called him up from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers early in the 2012 season. He played in 77 games for Charlotte alongside fellow Husky Kemba Walker.

The Bobcats traded Adrien to Milwaukee in 2014 and after that season he ended up playing in 16 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He cemented his journeyman status with a stint in China before spending the 2015 preseason with the New Orleans Pelicans, where he didn’t make the cut.

Adrien’s new team plays in Israel’s top division, which recently made some waves with the signing of 14-year NBA veteran Amare Stoudemire to Hapoel Jerusalem.