Bonzie Colson stepped back onto Israeli soil on Tuesday to hundreds of yellow-and-blue fans at Ben Gurion Airport, a EuroLeague champion returning to Maccabi Tel Aviv on a two-year deal after two seasons at Fenerbahce. The 30-year-old forward made clear his target: take the club to the top of Europe for the first time since 2014.
Colson averaged double figures and started nearly every game during his first Maccabi stint from 2022 to 2024. He left for Turkey, won it all in 2025, and has now circled back with experience and a clearer sense of what the yellow-and-blue demand.
The arc is simple on paper and heavier in practice. A high-usage starter left, a high-efficiency champion returned, and the club that once built him now inherits the version that has already stood on the EuroLeague podium.
A two-year contract and a $200,000 buyout
Maccabi paid a reported $200,000 buyout to free Colson from the remaining option year on his Fenerbahce deal and will pay him $1.5 million per season. The two-year deal announced by the club on June 28 reunites him with head coach Oded Katash and captain John DiBartolomeo.
The move closes a short but successful chapter in Istanbul. Colson helped Fenerbahce claim the 2025 EuroLeague title in Abu Dhabi plus two Turkish Super League championships, two Turkish Cups and a Super Cup. In limited minutes last season he still shot 48.5 percent from three.
- 2025 EuroLeague champion with Fenerbahce
- Two Israeli league titles and a State Cup in his first Maccabi run
- Two Turkish league titles, two cups and Super Cup in 2024-26
- FIBA Champions League MVP and top scorer earlier in France
Club officials and Katash framed the signing as a full-circle moment. “We all love him, we know his professional abilities, his energy and his connection to the club,” Katash said after the ink dried.
The buyout price is modest against a $1.5 million annual salary and against the hardware Colson collected in Turkey. Maccabi is not buying potential. It is buying a player who already knows Katash’s voice, the captain’s standards, and the cost of falling short of a Final Four.
That combination of familiar fit and fresh credentials is what made the June 28 announcement land as more than a routine roster add.
Why the return felt like a no-brainer
Colson did not hide the pull of Tel Aviv or the fans. In the Jerusalem Post interview that followed his airport arrival he called Maccabi and the city special places that outsiders struggle to understand until they live it.
It’s a blessing to be back and it’s a great feeling. Maccabi fans are some of the best in Europe and it’s just great when you come back. You get so much love and support, it’s definitely special.
That was Colson speaking after the welcome. He added that the decision took time and was not easy, yet once the pieces lined up it became obvious. He has already spoken with DiBartolomeo, new arrival Armando Bacot and Katash about chemistry and expectations.
“That’s my guy,” Colson said of the coach who first built him overseas. “He helped build me as a player… I understand him, he understands me and as soon as I signed, I texted him.”
The official EuroLeague return confirmation underscored the same reunion language from both sides.
Time and clarity mattered as much as money. Colson left as a beloved starter, won a ring in a reduced role, and came back able to describe both the love of the crowd and the weight of the club’s goals in the same breath. That dual fluency is what turned a difficult choice into an obvious one once the buyout and contract aligned.
Numbers that tell two different chapters
Colson’s production shifted with role and minutes. At Maccabi he was a high-usage starter. At Fenerbahce he became a high-efficiency reserve on a deeper roster.
| Season / Team | GP | MPG | PPG | RPG | 3P% | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 Maccabi | 39 | 26.1 | 10.7 | 5.6 | 37.6 | 13.1 |
| 2023-24 Maccabi | 40 | 28.5 | 12.6 | 5.3 | 38.7 | 14.1 |
| 2024-25 Fenerbahce | 39 | 18.3 | 6.7 | 3.5 | 35.7 | 6.8 |
| 2025-26 Fenerbahce | 40 | 16.9 | 7.1 | 3.0 | 48.5 | 8.7 |
The full career statistics and highlights show the same pattern across domestic leagues: higher volume and starting minutes in Tel Aviv, tighter efficiency and trophy hardware in Istanbul. Maccabi now gets the version that knows exactly how a title run feels from the inside.
Read side by side, the two Maccabi rows and the two Fenerbahce rows describe different jobs more than different players. Minutes fell by nearly ten per night. Points and rebounds dropped with them. Three-point accuracy and winning, by the final Istanbul season, climbed.
The PIR gap tells the usage story cleanly: mid-teens as a Maccabi starter, single digits as a Fenerbahce specialist. Katash is not rehiring the 12.6-point scorer alone. He is rehiring the forward who learned to hurt teams in fewer possessions and still leave with a ring.
A roster built around familiar faces and new size
Colson returns to a group that has added several pieces this summer. Bacot, another recent Fenerbahce player, signed a two-year deal in early August. Daniel Theis, Yam Madar, Oshae Brissett and others fill out a frontcourt and backcourt that looks deeper on paper than recent Maccabi editions.
Fans and observers on X have noted the stacked look: Colson plus Theis, Bacot, Brissett, Hoard and Sorkin give Katash multiple big lineups, while Madar, Lundberg, DiBartolomeo and Clark handle the guard spots. One widely shared post called it a quietly improved Maccabi that can push for the playoffs.
- Frontcourt depth: Colson, Theis, Bacot, Brissett, Hoard, Sorkin
- Guard group: Madar, Lundberg, DiBartolomeo, Clark
- Shared Fenerbahce thread: Colson and Bacot both arrive from Istanbul
- Contract shape: Colson and Bacot each on two-year deals
The Recanati family ownership of the club has continued to fund competitive rosters. Colson himself said the group has “the roster to do it, to win the EuroLeague” and must play with a chip on its shoulder.
Training camp has not been seamless. Several stars delayed their returns, leaving the early sessions thinner than ideal, a situation covered in reports of a thin start to Maccabi training camp. Colson’s arrival and the chemistry talks he described are meant to accelerate the build.
Paper depth only matters if the delayed returns and new combinations harden into habits. Colson’s early texts to Katash and talks with DiBartolomeo and Bacot are the first stitches in that process, not the finished product.
The 2014 title still hangs over every Final Four push
Maccabi last won the EuroLeague in 2014, upsetting Real Madrid in overtime in Milan for its sixth European crown. Tyrese Rice earned Final Four MVP. Since then the club has remained a consistent presence but has fallen short of the final weekend in recent campaigns.
Colson’s first two seasons with Katash produced two Israeli titles and a State Cup. They also produced two near-misses that still sting: the team twice came within minutes of the Final Four. That unfinished business is the bet Colson is now placing.
“After playing with Fener, you understand the legacy that’s been built here at Maccabi and you understand the goals and expectations,” he said. “So, our goal is definitely the Final Four… I think we have the roster to do it, to win the EuroLeague.”
He can guard multiple positions, stretch the floor, and finish through contact. At 6-foot-5 with a long wingspan he still plays bigger than his listing, the same trait that made him an ACC standout at Notre Dame and a G-League and European success after going undrafted in 2018.
Twelve years without a European crown is the shadow over every roster announcement. Domestic trophies from Colson’s first tour proved the Katash core could win at home. The near-misses proved that home success has not yet translated to the final weekend. The return is a wager that experience from Abu Dhabi can close that gap.
Fans, drums and the debt he feels he owes
The airport scene on Tuesday was pure Maccabi theater. Hundreds of supporters turned out with drums and chants. Colson called the reception heartwarming and hard to put into words.
“You don’t get that love everywhere,” he said. “There are some teams that want to be out here, but this is Maccabi.”
He and DiBartolomeo have already talked about chances and expectations. Colson knows the standard. He also knows the fans will demand repayment for the affection in the form of hard plays and wins.
The chip he mentioned is real. Leaving as a beloved starter, winning a ring as a role player, and returning as a proven champion raises the bar for everyone around him. Katash now has a player who has seen the highest level from both sides of the bracket.
Love at the terminal is the easy half of the bargain. The harder half arrives when domestic nights turn into EuroLeague weeks and the same drums expect the Final Four floor he has already named out loud.
Istanbul Taught Him What Tel Aviv Expects
The Fenerbahce years compressed a full education into reduced minutes. Colson arrived in Turkey as a former Maccabi starter and left as a EuroLeague champion who had also stacked Turkish league titles, cups and a Super Cup.
That run changed the lens he brings back. He said as much when he spoke about legacy, goals and expectations after living inside a title roster. The same player who once chased a Final Four from Tel Aviv has now watched a different club finish the job in Abu Dhabi.
Mechanism matters here more than nostalgia. A high-usage forward learned to produce at 48.5 percent from three in a specialist role. He learned how deeper rotations manage a long season. He learned what a locker room looks like when the ceiling is a trophy rather than a near-miss.
Maccabi is counting on that education to travel. The yellow-and-blue already supplied the emotional pull and the historical standard. Istanbul supplied the proof of process. The reunion is an attempt to fuse the two.
The Path That Built This Version of Colson
The forward who landed at Ben Gurion did not appear fully formed in 2022. The stops before Tel Aviv and after it explain why the second stint carries different weight.
- 2018: Goes undrafted out of Notre Dame after an ACC standout career, then grinds through the G-League and early Europe.
- France: Earns FIBA Champions League MVP and top scorer honors, the first major overseas proof of concept.
- 2022-24: Becomes a Maccabi starter, posts double-figure scoring, and wins two Israeli league titles plus a State Cup.
- 2024-26: Shifts to Fenerbahce, accepts fewer minutes, and collects the 2025 EuroLeague title with Turkish domestic hardware.
- June 28 and beyond: Signs the two-year Maccabi return, pays off the $200,000 buyout chapter, and walks back into the airport welcome.
Each step trimmed or expanded his role without erasing the underlying tools: multi-position defense, floor spacing, contact finishes, and a frame that plays bigger than 6-foot-5. Katash saw the first overseas version of those tools. Fenerbahce stress-tested them in a championship environment. Maccabi now rehires the composite.
Undrafted paths rarely loop back this cleanly. This one did because the club, the coach and the player still share a language built in the first stint and sharpened by the second.
What the next months will test
Preseason will show whether the new pieces mesh. Colson will split time at the three and four, spacing the floor for Theis and Bacot while bringing the defensive intensity Katash values. Domestic games will come first, then the EuroLeague grind.
Colson’s own measuring stick is simple: get 1 percent better every day, stay together through the inevitable ups and downs, and keep the Final Four as the floor rather than the ceiling. He has the ring. Maccabi has the history and the fans. The bet is that those pieces finally produce the European night the club has chased for twelve years.
Camp absences already forced an uneven start. Chemistry talks cannot replace shared practice reps. The early calendar will reveal whether Bacot’s arrival, the extra big-lineup options and Colson’s dual-position flexibility can harden before the nights that count.
For now the forward is simply happy to be home, hearing the drums again, and ready to play with his guys.
