Eban Hyams has played professionally in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) and that country's

Waratah League The NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2021, Basketball New South Wales and the National ...

, part of the second division

Australian Basketball Association The Australian Basketball Association (ABA) was a semi-professional basketball entity based in Australia. The ABA was Australia's biggest basketball competition for many years. With over 120 teams participating across five leagues and six states ...

(ABA). He is the first ever player of Indian origin to play in ULEB competitions.

Early life

Hyams was born in Pune, India, to Jewish Indian parents. He moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

at a young age and began playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

while attending school there. A member of the

Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Shanivar Teli" () or " Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via their ancestors who had settled there ce ...

i community, Eban is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and holds Israeli citizenship. His mother is Marilyn Hyams and his father was Erick Isaac Hyams, a well known singer and guitarist for the Indian band Sweet Slag in the late

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

and early

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...

. Following his father's death in 1989, he attended boarding school where he excelled in sports. In 1996, his mother remarried and the family moved to Sydney. Earning a scholarship to attend Saint John Paul College in Sydney, Eban was named captain of his school and was introduced to basketball, eventually being selected to the New South Wales Combined Catholic Colleges (NSW CCC) state tryouts.

Professional career

Breakout in Australia

Eban starred for the Sydney-based Penrith Panthers of the

, part of the second division

, from 1999 through 2002, averaging 27 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists per game.

US Junior College

He spent 2002 through 2004 playing junior college basketball in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, first for the College of Coastal Georgia, then a junior college but now playing in the NAIA, and then

Georgia Perimeter College Perimeter College at Georgia State University is a college of Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Perimeter College was originally a public community college founded by an Atlanta area county board of education before merging ...

in the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Return to Australia

Following his time in the US, Eban returned to the Australian ABA with the Hornsby Spiders for the 2005 season. That year Eban also broke out as "Do It All" on the

AND1 Mixtape Tour The AND1 Live Tour, formerly known as the AND1 Mixtape Tour, is a traveling basketball competition and exhibition presented by B-Ball and Company and the basketball apparel manufacturer AND1. A group of streetball players, along with Emcee Rell an ...

, averaging 18 points and 5 rebounds during

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

exhibition's Asia Pacific circuit. Embracing his Jewish heritage, he also took part in the

2005 Maccabiah Games The 17th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-17 ישראל תשס"ה), held in Israel, were an incarnation of the 'Jewish Olympics.' They attracted the largest attendance of any Maccabiah Games, including more than 900 representatives from the Un ...

in Israel, leading his Australian basketball team to a fourth-place finish. The following year, Eban played for the ABA's Sydney Comets before moving to the expansion Singapore Slingers of the first division National Basketball League, becoming the first Indian player to complete in that league and earning a place on both the International All-Star and Rookie All-Star teams. Returning to the ABA with the Bankstown Bruins the following year, Eban excelled, averaging 20 points per game, and earned a three-year contract with Israeli powerhouse Galil Elyon Goba.

Israel, injury and illness

Eban broke his hand in 2008 while visiting his mother and sister in Sydney. Due to a misdiagnosis, it was eight months before he could play again at a professional level and he successfully sued for medical negligence. Returning to form in 2008 and 2009 with the Waratah League's Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, Eban averaged 23 points a game and earned a place on the Hoopdreamz Great White Sharks, the Australian basketball contingent at the Goodwill Games in Philippines. In 2011, he travelled to India to train with the

India national basketball team The India men's national basketball team represents India in international men's basketball. It is controlled by Basketball Federation of India.http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/FIBA/fibaStru/nfLeag/nfProf.asp?nationalFederationNumber=301 FIBA ...

ahead of the September 2011 FIBA Asia Championship. Immediately prior to the championships, however, he contracted

Dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...

and, after a period of hospitalisation, required three months of bed rest to recover.

NBA outreach role

Prior to his illness, Eban had been working with the NBA on Indian basketball outreach, and following his recovering in early 2012 was hired by the league as its Manager of Basketball Operations India to support and promoting basketball and the league there. Based in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, he assists in the administration of the Mahindra NBA Challenge amongst other basketball skills development and health education programs.

Return to the US

In June 2013, Eban returned to the United States intending to play professionally during the 2013–2014 season. He was invited to the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

National Invitational Tryouts in New York City on 15 June 2013 where he competed with other NBA D-League hopefuls for a roster spot. In October 2013, Eban was invited to try out individually for four D-League franchises: the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

based in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

(affiliated with the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

); the Reno Bighorns based in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...

(affiliated with the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

); the

Los Angeles D-Fenders LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significan ...

based in

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(owned by the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

); and the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado ...

based in

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2 ...

(affiliated with the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. Th ...

). He played for the India masters basketball team in the

2017 Maccabiah Games The 2017 Maccabiah Games ( he, משחקי המכביה 2017), also referred to as the 20th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-20), were the 20th edition of the Maccabiah Games. They took place from 4 to 17 July 2017, in Israel. The Maccabiah ...

Personal life

Eban has been closely associated with Krishna Shroff the daughter of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

star

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

and sister of

Tiger Shroff Jai Hemant "Tiger" Shroff (born 2 March 1990) is an Indian actor and martial artist known for his work in the Indian cinema. He is best known for his Baaghi action franchise, '' Heropanti'' (2014) and '' War'' (''2019''). He has featured in F ...

. They met each other through a common friend and ever since they have been spotted having happy time dating and vacationing together.

References

External links

draftexpress.com: Eban Hyams Profile

Australiabasketball.com: Eban Hyams Profile

Euroleage: Eban Hyams Profile

Hoopistani: Eban Hyams index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyams, Eban 1981 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Australian people of Indian-Jewish descent Basketball players from Maharashtra Bene Israel Competitors at the 2005 Maccabiah Games Hapoel Galil Elyon players Indian men's basketball players Israeli men's basketball players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli people of Indian-Jewish descent Jewish Australian sportspeople Jewish Israeli sportspeople Jewish men's basketball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Point guards Shooting guards Singapore Slingers players

Early life

Professional career

Breakout in Australia

US Junior College

Return to Australia

Israel, injury and illness

NBA outreach role

Return to the US

Personal life

See also

References

External links