Basketball Zoff in the national team
“Maxi, sorry, but you don’t have a game” – Schröder’s harsh criticism of fellow player Kleber
Status: 16.07.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
After Dennis Schröder’s reckoning, the question is whether he and Maxi Kleber are still conceivable together in the national team
Quelle: Getty Images
The national team meets at the end of July to prepare for the basketball world championship. But in the run-up there is a lot of trouble about the composition of the squad. NBA star Dennis Schröder finds clear words when addressing teammate Maxi Kleber.
A year has passed since the summer fairy tale. The German national basketball team led by NBA star Dennis Schröder (29/Toronto Raptors) sensationally won bronze at the European Championships at home – it was the first medal in 17 years. Now the World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines (25 August to 10 September) will continue. “We want a medal,” said national coach Gordon Herbert. On July 31, the 18-man squad will start preparing in Bonn. But now there is trouble.
In the podcast “Got Nexxt” by basketball insider André Voigt, Captain Schröder dissects fellow player Maxi Kleber. Reason: A year ago, the 31-year-old NBA professional from the Dallas Mavericks canceled the national coach – now he is in the squad. Schröder obviously doesn’t like that at all: “Maxi wasn’t there last year. If you haven’t committed yourself – that was actually the message for all of us – then you won’t be there next year either.”
Maxi glue in action
Quelle: Getty Images
At the time, Kleber had injured his knee. But his reasoning at the time for the rejection still pisses Schröder off: “If he says I’m going to sign my contract this summer and I want to be with the team so that I can get even more money, then I understand that. But if you say to Gordon Herbert: ‘I’m Maxi and I want to practice ball handling and work on my game in the summer…’”
Then Schröder becomes drastic: “Maxi, sorry, but you don’t have a game. You throw in the corner, you defend. you are a pick and roll player. You’re not a Carmelo Anthony (former New York Knicks superstar, the editors). You don’t need to work on your game. The older you get, you see what your strengths are. And you try to maximize it so badly that you can play NBA for as long as possible.”
“I’m a straight, straight guy,” says Schröder
Kleber has been in Dallas since 2017 and extended his contract there last September until 2026. Nevertheless, Schröder still resents the cancellation for the European Championship: “For me it’s like this: Well, Maxi, work on your game, you can’t play national for that ?!? That bothered me a bit, to be honest. I just didn’t feel that. I’m always a straight, straight guy.”
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The anger seems to be particularly great for the captain because in 2022 players like Moritz Wagner (26/Orlando Magic) and Isaac Bonga (23/Bayern Munich) also traveled to the DBB team to support their colleagues. Schröder: “Isaac Bonga, Mo Wagner, the boys were there anyway. If Maxi had said, hey, I’m injured, but I’ll come, that’s something else again. Then I would say it was there anyway. We have to make sure that it stays fair anyway.”
Because Herbert still has to cut his squad down to twelve men before the start of the World Cup, Schröder fears that team players like Hamburg’s Jonas Wohlfahrt-Bottermann (33) will have to make way for Kleber: “It’s about this commitment that it’s an honor for to play the national team. We made this sexier last year. And now everyone is at the start again. We have to make sure that it stays fair anyway.”
The item was written for the sports competence center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published by SPORT BILD.
