Omri Caspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA, signed a contract on Tuesday with Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team he started his professional career with. The contract will come into effect in the increasingly likely event that the current labor strife leads to the cancellation of the entire NBA season. Caspi will not be able to join Maccabi until January 1, for tax reasons. Caspi was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers over the summer after two seasons with the Sacramento Kings, where he was a first round draft pick. He has not yet played with the Cleveland team. While Caspi expressed his delight at rejoining the team he left in 2009 for the Sacramento Kings, Maccabi head coach David Blatt was a lot cooler. He said: "I don't understand what all the fuss is about...Omri isn't here yet." Blatt insists, however, that Caspi's return to Maccabi has nothing to do with the likelihood that other Euroleague teams will be signing NBA players in the near future.