In the span of a few minutes on Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets single-handedly doubled the Jewish population in the NBA from two to four.
The Nets selected Israeli Ben Saraf and Israeli-American Danny Wolf back to back with the 26th and 27th overall picks in Wednesday’s NBA Draft.
Wolf, a 7-footer from the University of Michigan, was projected to go earlier in the round, while some prognosticators had Saraf, a 19-year-old currently playing in the German professional league, to slip to the second round. Instead, Saraf and Wolf were selected in quick succession toward the end of the first round and will be teammates in Brooklyn.
Wolf, 21, transferred to Michigan last year after two solid seasons at Yale, and led the Wolverines to a No. 5 seed in March Madness, where they lost in the Sweet 16 to Jewish coach Bruce Pearl and No. 1-ranked Auburn. The Glencoe, Illinois native averaged 13.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game this past season, while shooting 49.7% overall and 33.6% on three-pointers.
Saraf, who is 6-foot-6, is the son of two former Israeli pro basketball players, and he wears No. 77 because it represents the Hebrew word “mazal,” which means luck. He averaged 12.8 points and 4.6 assists per game this year as he helped lead his team to the German league finals.
This marks the first time since 2006 that two Jewish players were selected in the same NBA draft. That year, Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin were both taken in the second round, though neither appeared in the league.
Saraf and Wolf join a growing contingent of Jewish players in the NBA, including Israeli Deni Avdija — who is coming off his own breakout season with the Portland Trail Blazers — and Sacramento Kings star Domantas Sabonis, who is converting to Judaism. Amari Bailey, who was drafted 41st overall in 2023, played in the NBA’s G League last season.
Wolf, who obtained his Israeli citizenship to represent Israel at the FIBA U20 European Championship in Greece, has worn his Jewish pride on his sleeve throughout his life. He attended Jewish day school until fifth grade, keeps kosher and had his bar mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
“I would hear it growing up, that noise about me being Jewish and (so) you don’t expect much from me as a basketball player,” Wolf told the Jewish author Mitch Albom for a column in the Detroit Free Press. “When I was younger, I kind of looked at (being Jewish) as an opportunity to prove myself.”
Now he and Saraf will represent the city with the most Jews in the world.
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