Heidelberg. DBB President Ingo Weiss firmly assumes that NBA star Dennis Schröder will be at the home European Championship in September with a preliminary round in Cologne and the final round in Berlin.
“The amount that we have to insure is not that high this time,” said Weiss on the sidelines of the World Cup qualifier against Israel in Heidelberg on Magenta Sport. “There will be a solution. And the solution is that Dennis Schröder is at the European Championships,” said Weiss.
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. Born in Braunschweig himself, he has already announced that he wants to take part in the European Championship.
Weiss is also confident that the other NBA professionals will play for Germany this summer. “The boys want to play. We can do that,” said Weiss. Possible candidates include Daniel Theis (Boston Celtics), Maxi Kleber (Dallas Mavericks) and Moritz and Franz Wagner from the Orlando Magic.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220301-99-331851/2
