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Former Yeshiva U phenom Ryan Turell features in Amazon’s ‘Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey’
(JTA) — Fans of the Jewish basketball star Ryan Turell, who is trying to become the first Orthodox Jew to play in the NBA, likely followed his debut season last year in the basketball minor league known as the G League, in which Turell played for the Motor City Cruise in Detroit.
Now, a new documentary about the G League season heavily features Turell, and his segments have a focus on his Jewish identity.
The film is called “Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey,” and it starts streaming on Prime Video on Tuesday. The film is a project of the sports and pop culture media company The Ringer and the Tom Brady-cofounded sports documentary outfit called, apropos for Turell, Religion of Sports.
“Destination NBA” takes turns following the seasons of several players at various stages of their basketball careers who are in the G League, which is the NBA’s official minor league.
One of them is Scoot Henderson, who played last year for G League Ignite and ended up the third overall pick in the NBA Draft, by the Portland Trail Blazers. Other G League players are journeymen on the fringes, while still others (such as film subject Denzel Valentine) are former high draft picks looking to work their way back to the NBA.
And then there’s Turell, who played in the G League last season at age 24, following a final season at Yeshiva University the previous year, when he was the leading scorer in all of college basketball. After the California native was not chosen in the following NBA Draft, Turell was drafted by the Detroit team with the 27th pick in the 2022 G League Draft.
The first time we see him in the film, he’s saying the blessings over Hanukkah candles. Later Turell, who wears a kippah on the court when he plays, is shown signing kippot for fans, and describing one particular basketball move as “The Spinning Dreidel.”
Turell also discusses how he handles playing basketball while observing the Sabbath — he’s willing to play during the day of rest, although he will not ride in a car or bus on the way there — and expresses interest in one day playing basketball in Israel. He has also been helped out by an area Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi in his observance, with challah he can eat in his hotel room during Shabbat.
In one scene, when his team visits Long Island for a road game, Turell is welcomed by numerous Jewish fans, including a large contingent from his alma mater. Viewers also see Turell cooking with his family and his Jewish mother gushing about him.
“I want to be a Jewish hero,” Turell says at one point in the film, repeating a sentiment that he has shared before.
“He’s willing to wear a yarmulke and say: ‘I’m proudly Jewish,’” Turell’s father Brad told New York Jewish Week, on the day of that Long Island game. “Here’s a kid who doesn’t have to do this. There’s a lot of antisemitism and a lot of bad things going on, but he’s inspiring a lot of people. The symbol is the kippah and that makes a huge difference.”
The next G League season does not begin until November, but Turell is still listed on the roster of the Motor City Cruise.
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The post Former Yeshiva U phenom Ryan Turell features in Amazon’s ‘Destination NBA: A G League Odyssey’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.