A ‘lefty jitterbug’ and a ‘funky’ forward: Get to know the Jewish players in the 2025 NBA Draft
An NBA draft expert gives us the scoop on Danny Wolf and Ben Saraf
Ben Saraf (left) and Danny Wolf are expected to be picked in this week’s NBA Draft. Photo by Mateusz Slodkowski/Getty Images (Saraf); Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images (Wolf)
By Louis Keene June 25, 2025
There aren’t too many basketball players who wear the number 77 on their jersey. Israeli point guard Ben Saraf does it for a a religious reason: 77 is the Jewish numerical value of the word mazal, which means luck.
Saraf, 19, is one of two young Jewish hoopers projected to be picked in the 2025 NBA Draft, which begins Wednesday. The other, University of Michigan big man Danny Wolf, has a quintessentially American connection to Judaism: He was bar mitzvahed in Israel. (Yes, that’s a very American thing to do.)
Wolf, 21, a seven-footer described by one draft expert as “one of the funkiest players in his class,” projected as a mid- to late-first round pick, and potentially as early as 10th overall. Most prognosticators estimate the crafty Saraf going early in the second round. The first round begins Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, with the second round being held Thursday.)
They will join the Portland Trail Blazers’ Deni Avdija, a veteran Israeli forward coming off a career season, and the Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis — who in 2023 announced his conversion to Judaism— in the Jewish NBA ranks.
If both are picked, it would mark the first time in nearly two decades that two Jewish players are drafted the same year. As in 2006, when Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin were selected in the second round, both of this year’s Jewish prospects are Israeli citizens; Wolf became a citizen so that he could play for Israel’s under-20 team at the 2024 European Championships.
To learn more about these players’ potential — and their ideal NBA landing spot, I reached out to Robert Flom, who has been covering the league for going on a decade at various outlets and now runs the Los Angeles Clippers blog 213Hoops. (He’s also Jewish, and a Michigan alum.)
‘One of the funkiest players in his class’
Wolf wasn’t a blue-chip prospect when he graduated high school in the Chicago suburb of Glencoe, so he wound up at the lesser-known basketball powerhouse of, uhh, Yale University. The Ivy League was too easy for him, so he went to Michigan, where he led the Bulldogs to this year’s Sweet 16. He averaged 13.2 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 blocks on the season.
Flom said Wolf’s dynamic skillset at his size — 7 feet, 252 pounds — makes him “one of the more intriguing players in the draft.” He compared Wolf to Boris Diaw, a beefy forward known for his passing vision and versatility.
“He’s pretty unique, because he can do big man stuff like rebound and block shots,” Flom said of Wolf, “but he can also do all this ball-handling and creation and passing.” (NBA draft luminary Sam Vecenie said that in pre-draft workouts, Wolf broke one team’s record in a three-point shooting drill.)
Wolf held court on his religious background in 2024 while starring for the Israeli national team that took home silver in the Under-20 European Championships.
“I honestly don’t think I can put words into the feelings,” he told Sports Rabbi at the time about representing Israel. “Growing up in a Jewish household, having Jewish beliefs and faith, I’ve never really been able to experience something like I have this past month. Just being able to represent Israel in a way that I haven’t been able to do in the past is something that I shouldn’t take for granted.”
“I always held on my shoulders that I knew I had a very strong belief in Judaism and I used that to my advantage in life,” he added. “Judaism was a huge part of how I was raised and how I carry myself today.”
NBA insider Marc Stein said the Phoenix Suns could take Wolf with the 10th pick, which they acquired earlier this week in the Kevin Durant trade. But most mock drafts have him going in the 14-18 range.
Flom said that because Wolf is limited as a defender, his best fit would be on a team where defense is already a strength. He said the Oklahoma City Thunder — the reigning champs — who hold the 15th and 24th picks, and the Atlanta Hawks, who pick 13th and 22nd, could be ideal destinations.
‘Lefty jitterbug’
Saraf, whose mother and father both played pro basketball in Israel, is lesser-known coming from the German league. But as a teenager playing against grown men, Saraf impressed, averaging 12.8 points and 4.6 assists to help his team, Ratiopharm Ulm, to the league final. While Wolf suits up for the NBA draft’s Green Room — he was just one of just 24 prospects invited — Saraf will be in Munich, Germany, playing in the finals’ winner-takes-all Game 5.
At 6-foot-6, Saraf is tall for a point guard, which has helped him become a disruptive force on defense in Germany. Like Wolf, he’s a willing passer — The Ringer called Saraf a “lefty jitterbug with some of the best passing talent and creativity in the draft class.” But he hasn’t proven he can shoot, which is all but required for a guard in the modern NBA game.
Still, The Athletic’s John Hollinger ranked Saraf 15th overall among 2025 prospects — 11 spots higher than Wolf — writing, “Ignore the shooting motion for a second and just look at everything else. Saraf is a big guard who plays hard, defends, makes good decisions on the ball and can run an offense.”
“It’s pretty easy to envision a floor for him as a serviceable backup guard,” Hollinger added, “with a much higher potential ceiling if he can consistently make perimeter shots.”
Like his countryman Avdija, Saraf grew up not in an Israeli city but in a village called Gan Yoshiya. He started playing organized basketball at age 8; recognizing his talent, his parents hired a personal trainer and a strength coach not long after to accelerate his development.
Calling Saraf more cerebral than athletic, Flom suggested he might be a good fit for the Los Angeles Clippers, who have the 30th and final pick of the first round.
