When Chinanu Onuaku joined Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv in November, it raised some eyebrows.
Why would a team off to a good start in the 7DAYS EuroCup and its domestic league make such a big move? Especially with the strong showings it was getting from starting center Chris Horton, who had collected 25 rebounds in the first two games of the EuroCup campaign. Hapoel's management was upfront about the signing of Onuaku being a "risk".
“From the position of a winning team, we chose to take a risk and strengthen ourselves in the paint with Chinanu," Coach Danny Franco said at the time. "There are probably not many players we would take at such an early stage of the season and in the near term we face a difficult task of adjustments, connection and chemistry, but Chinanu's availability presented us with a great professional and mental challenge. We will benefit from the move in the long run."
So far, Hapoel has benefitted. Onuaku has been a force in the paint averaging 11.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.6 blocks in 14 EuroCup games. He is sixth in the competition in PIR per minute with an average of 28.9 prorated over 40 minutes.