Eli Abaev (Hebrew: אלי אבייב; born December 13, 1998) is an American-Israeli basketball player for Elitzur Yavne B.C. of the Liga Leumit. He plays at the power forward and center positions.^[1] He played college basketball for Eastern Florida State College, Austin Peay State University, and Florida Gulf Coast University.

Abaev was born in Israel and moved to the United States as a child. His hometown is Coral Springs, Florida. Abaev is Jewish.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} He is 6' 8" (203 cm) tall.^[1] He weighs 205 pounds (93 kg).^[1]

He played at Zion Lutheran High School in Deerfield Beach.^[4][6] There, Abaev averaged 12 points and eight rebounds per game on 56% shooting from the floor for the Lions.^[4][6]

Abaev began his college career playing for Eastern Florida State College for two years.^[7] In 2016–17 in his first season, as the Titans were national runners-up, as a freshman he shot 59.8% from the floor, and had 7.4 rebounds per game.^[4][8][9] He was named to the 2017 National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Championship All-Tournament team.^[4][8][9]

In 2017–18, Abaev helped the Titans finish third in the NJCAA National Championship Tournament.^[4][8][10] He averaged 9.1 points and 9.8 rebounds (2nd in NJCAA Region 8) per game, shot 52.9% from the floor, and received First Team All-Mid-Florida Conference honors.^[4][8][10]

He transferred to Austin Peay State University, and in 2018–19, due to a lower-body injury, he redshirted.^[4][11][12]

As a redshirt junior in 2019–20 he played for Austin Peay.^[7][4] In 2019–20 Abaev averaged 7.9 points and 7.7 rebounds (4th in the Ohio Valley Conference) per game for the Austin Peay Governors, shooting 50.6% from the field.^[4][11][12]

Abaev then transferred and attended Florida Gulf Coast University, graduating in 2021.^[12][1] In 2020–21 he played for the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.^[5][11] He averaged 7.1 points, 7.4 rebounds (3rd in the Atlantic Sun Conference), and 0.7 blocks (4th) per game.^[5][11]

Abaev started his professional career playing for Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, with whom he signed on June 21, 2021.^{[1][9][13][14]}

On December 5, 2023, Abaev received a Hoops Agents National League Player of the Week award for Round 1. He had 26 points and 19 rebounds for his team to win.^[15]

Abaev played for Team USA in the 2019 European Maccabi Games, winning a gold medal and averaging 17.0 points and 15.3 rebounds in six games.^[4] In the gold medal game against Team Russia, he scored 23 points and had 28 rebounds.^[12]

• List of select Jewish basketball players