By Dana O’Neil, CNN
(CNN) — The blaring alarm startled Malik Hall out of his sleep in the early morning of February 28.
Months earlier, when he first arrived to play for Ironi Kiryat Ata B.C., a team in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the former Michigan State basketball player was told to download an app on his phone: the Home Front Command app. It’s designed to alert users if a missile is detected in Israeli airspace.
But for six months, Hall lived relatively peacefully. Residing about 15 minutes from Haifa, he practiced, played basketball and, frankly, forgot about the app or even the possibility of danger. That all changed when the United States and Israel combined to launch airstrikes on Iran, igniting an ongoing conflict that prompted immediate Iranian retaliation against Israel.
“We were asleep, dead asleep,” Hall, who was with his girlfriend, told CNN Sports. “At first, I wasn’t sure what to do. Luckily, my girlfriend had some urgency.”
That morning, they headed to the apartment’s bomb shelter, tucked under a stairwell on the first floor. It was the first of 15 trips they would make there that day. Outside, they could hear sirens and explosions — the missiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.
So began a harrowing week for Hall, who, like thousands of other Americans, had to flee the Middle East at the start of the conflict. He left on March 3 and didn’t arrive back home in Chicago until Monday, an eight-day sojourn.
Overseas basketball remains a popular and often fairly lucrative path for former college players, both men and women. Often providing housing and tax-free salaries, the teams welcome Americans, who bring both name recognition and a high level of play to their games.
But not all teams and leagues are created equally. Athletes who play in lousy leagues or for bad organizations often train in poor facilities, receive little to no assistance and, occasionally, do not even get a regular paycheck. It is largely an inconvenience, until it becomes something far more dire.
Hall is one of the lucky ones. While other athletes had to figure out how to get home on their own, his league guided him step by step.
That doesn’t mean it was any less terrifying.
Hall had just returned to Israel after a few days at home during the FIBA international break when news began to percolate about possible US and Israel strikes on Iran. On February 27, two days after he returned to Israel, his league sent an email, explaining that should something happen, it would devise an evacuation plan.
But that afternoon, Hall went to practice as usual, prepping for the eight or so games and playoff run left on the schedule.
“I knew stuff with Iran had picked up in the last couple of months,” Hall said. “I was keeping track of it, but honestly, I didn’t think it would be imminent.”
Instead, the next morning he was in the bomb shelter. His visit times varied — sometimes as long as 50 minutes, others just 10.
“You could hear the explosions, but you don’t really know how close or how far it is,” Hall said. “And you don’t really know what’s exploding.”
Hall said the Israelis who also lived in his apartment complex were far more blasé, some seeking shelters and others not.
“I was just thinking about this once I got home, once I could finally breathe and really process it all,” Hall said. “As Americans, it’s just not something we’re used to, thankfully. To us, it was pretty scary, but to people who live there, it’s almost like