Avner Koppel, the Israel Basketball Commissioner, will travel to America to persuade NBA star Jordan Farmar to represent Israel in this summer's Eurobasket qualifiers.

Koppel will talk to the New Jersey Nets point guard after watching Monday night's clash between the NBA's two Jewish stars as the Nets play Omri Casspi's Cleveland Cavaliers.

Israel will face Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Estonia and Iceland in the qualifying tournament with the top two teams progressing to the 16-team finals in Slovenia.

Israel have an excellent record of reaching the finals, but Koppel is hopeful that the addition of some star names can take them beyond the quarter-finals. The team's best performance came in 1979 where they finished runners-up after losing to the Soviet Union in the final.

Farmar has been in top form since returning to the US and last week scored a dramatic three-pointer on the buzzer to hand the Nets a 101-100 victory over the LA Clippers.