Who is Ryan Turell, the “Jewish Jordan” who marked a milestone in basketball and dreams of the NBA

He is 21 years old, measures 2.04 meters and this Monday he made history by becoming the first Orthodox Jew to debut in the G-League, development league NBA.

Ryan Turell, this forward from California, was greeted with a standing ovation at his premiere with the Motor City Cruise from Detroit. The result: a 125-109 loss to the Chicago Windy City Bulls.

Turell started at the Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva College, from New York, in love with basketball since he was a child, and his good performance led him to be selected by the team affiliated with the Pistons in position 27 of the last Draft of the G-League.

Among other important achievements, he left university sports being the Yeshiva’s all-time leading scorer, forming a fearsome offensive duo with his friend Gabriel Leifer. “Thanks to all my teammates, especially Gabe Leifer who assisted me in half of all those points.”he thanked him after achieving that record.

dream of playing in the NBA, and even a few months ago he tried to appear in the 2022-23 Draft selection, but was not chosen by any franchise. Even so, he knows that the development league will allow him to make himself known and, in the short or medium term, make that leap.

He played just four minutes this Monday, without scoring points, but marked a milestone in league history by walking onto the field wearing a special yarmulke bearing his team’s logo. And he was applauded by the entire audience at Detroit’s Wayne State Fieldhouse.

“Being the first Orthodox Jew in the NBA would be everything to me, a dream come true. But it would be just as important for others who never saw this as a possibility,” Turell said in a recent interview published by ESPN, encouraging himself to dream even further.

In addition to the goals that he aspires to achieve in his sports career, of very good projection to the point that they dared to call him “the Jewish Jordan”, think about the legacy and the values ​​that can be left out of the world of the orange ball.

“I want to show people that you don’t have to be afraid of wearing a yarmulke or being who you are.… with effort, simply, dreams can be achieved”, he had previously reflected.