NEW YORK — An American high schooler signed a contract to play professionally for an Israeli basketball team next season.

Jeremy Tyler last week became the first U.S. basketball player to turn pro by playing for a team overseas before graduating from high school, according to reports.

The 18-year-old from San Diego will play for the Maccabi Haifa Heat and reportedly will earn an annual salary of $140,000 (US).

“I think I made the right decision,” he was quoted by Associated Press as saying last week. “I think this team is a good fit for me, and it’s the right country.”

Tyler, a native of San Diego, is expected to begin training camp in Haifa at the end of the month.

The 6-foot-11, 260-pound Tyler announced in the spring that he was skipping his last season at San Diego High School because the basketball had become “boring.”

A representative for Tyler told The CJN last week that his client chose Israel over “four or five” other European team offers, not because of any religious motivation, but because he felt “most comfortable” playing in a country where he could speak English in addition to being part of a team owned by a fellow American.

Tyler averaged 28.7 points in his junior year at San Diego High, leading his team to the CIF-San Diego Section Division I quarterfinals. He is expected to return to the United States when he becomes eligible for the 2011 NBA draft, where some see him as a top pick, according to a statement from Triangle Financial Services, a Florida-based sports and entertainment investment firm  that recently purchased Maccabi Haifa.

Triangle’s chairman, U.S. businessman Jeffrey Rosen, has invested large sums of money to turn the franchise into a powerhouse and challenge Maccabi Tel Aviv’s dominance.

With files from Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf