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Alex Poythress, Maccabi: 'My dad always wore 22'

Alex Poythress, Maccabi: 'My dad always wore 22'

Interviews

8 May 20234 Mins read

Alex Poythress, Maccabi: 'My dad always wore 22'

If you comb through Alex Poythress's basketball history, you can find records for hundreds of official games he's played in. He suited up 112 times for the University of Kentucky in college, played in another 52 in the NBA and 71 in the G-League. Then there’s his time in Turkey and the 7DAYS EuroCup with Galatasaray Istanbul and two years in Russia with Zenit St Petersburg, during which he debuted in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.

Now, towards the end of what has been an injury-marred season, he's eager to leave his mark on the EuroLeague Playoffs with Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. After missing more than four months with a hand injury. Poythress returned to action in time for the playoffs and last week resumed his place in the starting lineup for Game 4 against AS Monaco. In that game, he contributed 12 points and 6 rebounds in a blowout win that set up a fifth and deciding game for a ticket to the Final Four on Wednesday in the principality.

Poythress is one of a few players who has experience in a do-or-die Game 5 in the playoffs; he was crushed, 79-53, at FC Barcelona in Game 5 in May 2021 with Zenit.

"No. 22 just stuck in our family ever since. Me and my twin sister used to always wear it. And my younger sister wore it when she played volleyball, too."

Naturally, Poythress hopes everything will go differently for him this time. But one thing will be the same, just like in the overwhelming majority of the games Poythress has played: he will be wearing the same uniform number. 22.

"My dad played [American] football growing up," Poythress explained. "He was a running back, actually, so he always had 22. And then it just stuck in our family ever since. Me and my twin sister used to always wear it. And my younger sister wore it when she played volleyball too."

There was no coercion, Poythress insisted. It just sort of happened.

"It was just always there. When [my dad] played sports, he was 22. And when my mom played, she was 23, so it was close enough, so I just stuck with 22," Poythress said.

Of course, Poythress's beloved No. 22 was not always available. In those situations, he just had to make do.

Poythress debuted in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2016-17 season and No. 22 was unavailable. Pressed to make a decision, he decided to honor his closest friends: "I have five best friends and I just chose it because of that," Poythress explained his decision to wear No. 5.

A year later, he was signed by the Indiana Pacers and faced the same situation. This time he opted for the number 0.

"It was like a new beginning for me. Somebody already had 22 and I just wanted to start fresh, so I thought 0 was the best way to start fresh," Poythress said. "I wanted to make a deal [for 22] when I got to the Pacers, but the deal was with a young guy, so I was like, I’ll just take 0 and start fresh."

Ironically, the player with No. 22 in Indiana was T.J. Leaf, the son of Israeli basketball great Brad Leaf, who starred for Maccabi in the late 1990s. T.J., who has played for Israel's youth national teams and now plays in China, has been linked to Maccabi too in the past, but now the No. 22 in Tel Aviv belongs to Poythress.

Poythress wore his favorite uniform number in the 2018-19 season with the Atlanta Hawks. The next time No. 22 was unavailable was when Poythress came to Europe for the first time to join Galatasaray and found young Turkish center Ayberk Olmaz sporting his number.

"I needed a number quick, so I'm like 5. I’ve worn 5 in the past, so I just chose that," Poythress said.

Will 22 continue in the family?

Alex does not have kids yet, but his twin sister Alexis has a 6-year-old daughter. There is one problem, however. Alexis's husband is also a professional athlete. Jalen Reeves-Maybin plays football for the Detroit Lions in the NFL and wears No. 44.

Alex is optimistic that they can keep the number in the family.

"My sister can convince her to wear 22," he said. "For sure. She's gotta wear it."