RIGA (Latvia) - Dennis Schroder has poured his heart and soul into the German national team for just over 10 years. Now the team's captain is one victory from finally guiding the country to their first FIBA EuroBasket title since 1993.
Schroder and Germany will square off against Türkiye in Sunday's Final in Riga. The Germans have reached their third title game in history following 1993 and 2005.
The 31-year-old playmaker was named to the All-Star Five when Germany took third place at EuroBasket 2022 and took home Most Valuable Player honors in carrying Germany to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 crown.
Schroder and Germany just missed out on a first-ever Olympic medal last summer; finishing fourth at the Paris 2024 Games - though he was named to the All-Star Five.
Playing for Germany in the summer is never a question for Schroder, who debuted with the national team in 2014 in the FIBA EuroBasket 2015 Qualifiers. The only events he did not play were the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2021, Split and the Tokyo Olympics. But he missed those competitions because of insurance coverage issues.
Over his 11-year span with Deutschland, Schroder successfully went from the successor to Dirk Nowitzki as leader to the face of the national team.
Here is a look back at past events playing for Germany.
Paris 2024 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament
In year three of the country's project starting at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022, Germany went to France as reigning world champions with Schroder the team leader as captain. He was also making his Olympics debut after missing out on Tokyo 2020.
The playmaker ranked second on the team in scoring with 17.2 points and also dished out 7.5 assists. Germany reached the Semi-Finals for the first time but dropped their final two games and failed to bring home a medal.
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023
Germany went to Asia buoyed by their third place the summer before at FIBA EuroBasket 2022. The team was also motivated after a disappointing 18th place four years ago in China. They made history by winning the crown - the first time Germany could call themselves world champs.
Schroder was the driving force all tournament with 19.1 points and 6.1 rebounds, including 28 points in the Final over Serbia. The guard was named Most Valuable Player and headlined the All-Star Five.
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers
Germany were dominant in their qualifying campaign for the FIBA World Cup 2023 with a 10-2 record. Schroder was available to play four of the games in the two Windows in the 2022 summer before FIBA EuroBasket 2022.
Germany went 4-0 with Schroder on board for the two Windows including a victory over Luka Doncic and Slovenia. Schroder averaged 20.3 points and 6.8 assists in the games.
FIBA EuroBasket 2022
Having last played for Germany in 2019, this team was the first with Gordon Herbert at the helm as head coach, and Schroder was a driving force to build chemistry - asking for players to commit to the next three summers. Despite becoming a wanderer in the NBA going from team to team, Schroder was the face of Germany - this time with Franz Wagner at his side.
Schroder averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 assists in helping Germany reach the Semi-Finals, where they lost to eventual champions Spain before bouncing back to beat Poland for third place. Schroder was chosen for the All-Star Five.
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019
Germany had high hopes going to China and the minimum expectation was to advance from the group stage. Germany dropped their opening game to France and then were surprised by Dominican Republic in the second game and that was the end of their big dreams.
Schroder finished the tournament with 19.6 points and 9.4 assists but the team ended up in 18th place.
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers
Germany went 6-0 in the First Round of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers, but fell to Greece twice in the Second Round as once at Israel. Schroder was the leading scorer with 23.5 points to go with 7.5 assists in four games during the two windows in the summer of 2018.
The real highlight was scoring 30 points and dishing out 13 assists as Germany erased a 23-point deficit and beat Israel 112-98 in overtime.
FIBA EuroBasket 2017
The Germany team was officially Schroder's to lead starting in 2017 and the guard did a strong job with 23.7 points and 5.6 assists. Most importantly, he guided Germany to the Quarter-Finals - and a final sixth-placed finish. It was the first time the country had gotten into the top eight on the continent since 2007.
FIBA EuroBasket 2015
Schroder was playing his first major competition at 21 years old with Germany co-hosting the event - which was also ended up being the swan song for then 37 year old Dirk Nowitzki. Schroder led the team in scoring - 21.0 points and 6.0 assists to 13.8 points for Nowitzki - but Germany failed to advance from the group stage.
FIBA EuroBasket 2015 Qualifiers
Head coach Emir Mutapcic brought the 19-year-old Schroder into the German national team for his debut in the FIBA EuroBasket 2015 Qualifiers in August 2014. The guard, who had just finished his first season in the NBA with Atlanta at the time, led the team in scoring with 15.3 points and assists with 5.3 dimes.
Dennis Schroder's scoring record in official NT competitions
Competition | Games played | PPG | RPG | APG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
FIBA EuroBasket 2015 Qualifiers | 6 | 15.3 | 1.8 | 5.3 |
FIBA EuroBasket 2015 | 5 | 21.0 | 4.6 | 6.0 |
FIBA EuroBasket 2017 | 7 | 23.7 | 2.6 | 5.6 |
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers | 4 | 23.5 | 4.5 | 7.5 |
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 | 5 | 19.6 | 4.6 | 9.4 |
FIBA EuroBasket 2022 | 8 | 22.1 | 2.3 | 7.1 |
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers | 4 | 20.3 | 4.8 | 6.8 |
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 | 8 | 19.1 | 2.0 | 6.1 |
Paris 2024 Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament | 6 | 17.2 | 2.5 | 7.5 |
FIBA EuroBasket 2025 | 8 | 20.9 | 3.5 | 6.6 |
FIBA