Heidelberg (AP) – Robin Benzing knew who he had to thank. “Nice that you were there,” said the captain of the German national basketball team to his teammate Maodo Lo.
Despite the tight schedule, the point guard from German champions Alba Berlin joined the German team for the World Cup qualifier against Israel on Monday evening in Heidelberg and immediately became the best thrower with 18 points in a thrilling 84:80. “It was difficult because we could hardly train together,” said Lo, “but I wanted to help the team.”
In addition to Lo, his Berlin team-mate Johannes Thiemann and Bayern’s Andreas Obst joined the team at the weekend after missing out on Friday’s first duel with Israel in Tel Aviv due to club commitments in the Euroleague. “It means a lot to us that you feel so connected to the national team,” said national coach Gordon Herbert.
DBB selection makes up for 15-point deficit
Thanks in part to the Euroleague trio, Germany made up a 15-point deficit in Heidelberg and took the lead in Group D with a 3-1 win the intermediate round is also good, as all results are taken. “It looks pretty decent now,” said DBB President Ingo Weiss after the trembling victory on Monday evening.
The pressure is off a bit after the double win against Israel, so that everyone involved can look forward to a packed and exciting basketball summer with the European Championship with a preliminary round in Cologne and the final round in Berlin as the highlight. “These will be festival weeks for all basketball fans,” rejoiced Weiss, who firmly assumes that Herbert will then also have all the players from the NBA and the Euroleague at his disposal.
NBA star Dennis Schröder has already announced his willingness to play. The insurance issue should not be a hurdle this time either. “The amount that we have to insure is not that high this time,” said Weiss at Magenta Sport. “There will be a solution. And the solution is that Dennis Schröder is at the European Championship.”
Weiss optimistic about Dennis Schröder
Schröder did not play for Germany last summer because the German Basketball Federation had not found an insurance company willing to sign the 28-year-old point guard. The sum to be insured was so high in 2021 because Schröder had hoped for a mega contract in the NBA in the three-digit million range.
However, this never came about, so that Schröder, who now plays for the Houston Rockets, only has a one-year contract worth 5.9 million dollars. Although the point guard is again without a contract in the summer, this time the sum to be insured is likely to be significantly lower because Schröder’s market value has fallen.
Weiss is also confident that the other NBA professionals will play for Germany this summer. Possible candidates include Daniel Theis (Boston Celtics), Maxi Kleber (Dallas Mavericks) and Moritz and Franz Wagner from the Orlando Magic.
In the run-up to the European Championship, there are still four World Cup qualifiers to be played at the end of June/beginning of July and the end of August. Lo also wants to be there again. “See you in the summer,” he called back to Benzing.
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