The recently injured NBA star Daniel Theis is available to the German national basketball team in the domestic European Championships.
As announced by the German Basketball Association (DBB) on Wednesday, national coach Gordon Herbert named the 30-year-old in his final 12-man squad. Thursday (8.30 p.m./MagentaSport) the Germans start the tournament in Cologne against joint favorite France.
Theis, who became the Boston Celtics’ second-last NBA season and will play for the Indiana Pacers in the future, had complained of knee problems. In preparation, the Big Man had only played one game and was in danger of losing the EC Championship. Meanwhile, Herbert Gavin Schilling (CSP Limoges/France) dropped from the 13-man squad.
Numerous German NBA stars are missing
Theis’s participation in the European Championship is important for the Germans, because there are many players missing from big places. So Moritz Wagner (Orlando Magic) had to pass injured. Maximilian Kleber (Dallas Mavericks) and Isaiah Hartenstein (New York Knicks) or Tibor Pleiß (Anadolu Istanbul) had already withdrawn before preparation.
In the group stage of the European Championship, Germany will face France, European champion Slovenia, Lithuania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary. The Herbert team must finish at least fourth to qualify for the final round in Berlin (starting on September 10).
The German Basketball Association (DBB) team at a glance
- Niels Giffey (last Zalgiris Kaunas/Lithuania), 8/6/1991, forward, 2.00 m, 85 international matches
- Justus Hollatz (CB Breogan, Spain), April 21, 2001, guard, 1.91m, 15
- Maodo Lo (Alba Berlin), 31 December 1992, guard, 1.91 m, 73
- Andreas Obst (Bayern Munich), July 13, 1996, shooting guard, 1.91 m, 43
- Dennis Schröder (last Houston Rockets/USA), 15/09/1993, guard, 1.88 m, 56
- Christian Sengfelder (Brose Bamberg), 28 February 1995, power forward, 2.05m, 20.
- Daniel Theis (Indiana Pacers/USA), 4/4/1992, forward/center, 2.04 m, 45
- Johannes Thiemann (Alba Berlin), 9 February 1994, forward/centre, 2.05m, 59
- Johannes Voigtmann (CSKA Moscow/Russia), 30 September 1992, middle, 2.11m, 83
- Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic/USA), August 27, 2001, guard/forward, 2.06m, 5.
- Nick Weiler-Babb (Bayern Munich), 12 December 1995, guard, 1.96m, 3rd.
- Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann (Hamburg Towers), 20 February 1990, center, 2.08m, 14
SID
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