Daniel Theis was one of the key players in the German national basketball team’s World Cup gold medal and wanted to carry the momentum into his seventh NBA season. The German still hardly plays a role with the Indiana Pacers – a frustrating situation for the veteran.
Eight minutes. Four throw attempts from the field. Two points. This is what basketball world champion Daniel Theis has achieved so far for the Indiana Pacers in the current 2023/24 season, which has now lasted almost three weeks. The team from the Central Division has now played nine games, winning six of them. Theis was only used once, in the 126:124 home win against the Milwaukee Bucks last Friday.
His only points so far: a furious dunk after a pick-and-roll with All-Star Tyrese Haliburton, who served the German in an exemplary manner. Theis almost received the dreaded “DNP” (“did not play”) mark in the game report on Thursday, which Indiana coach Rick Carlisle has now given him eight times – a more than frustrating situation for the veteran, who is with the team from the Eastern Conference continues to play almost no role at all in terms of sport.
It was only thanks to Jalen Smith’s very late absence due to a back problem that Theis was even used against Milwaukee. He defended solidly against superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and helped the offense score important points in the third quarter. A rarity so far: of the 15 players in the squad, no Pacers player was on the floor less than the 31-year-old, who has been with the club for a good year and a half and has only played eight games for a total of 117 minutes of play. Theis is the second oldest player on the team behind TJ McConnell; Ten Pacers are 25 years old or younger.
“Not happy”
“Of course, after a great summer, I’m not happy with the current situation,” Theis recently told Brian Robb, a reporter from Boston, where Theis began his NBA career in 2017 and wore Celtics green for a total of five seasons. “I want to play, I want to carry the momentum from the summer into the new season. But a season like this is long, so we’ll see what happens.”
Theis and Indiana are somehow not getting off the ground. Coming from Boston in the summer of 2022 via trade for Malcolm Brogdon, Theis struggled with knee problems for a long time at the beginning of the preseason. His debut for the new team came months later, on February 2nd of this year. After just seven appearances in which Theis averaged 7.0 points and 3.1 rebounds, he was already sidelined. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle preferred to analyze and develop young players; veterans like the German had no playing time at all in the final weeks of the season, while the Pacers missed the play-offs for the third time in a row.
There is usually a “DNP” behind the name Theis.
(Foto: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS)
This phenomenon has not changed this year either. Carlisle continues to rely on speed, three-pointers and youth. Theis only ranks fourth in the center hierarchy behind starters Myles Turner, Isaiah Jackson and Jalen Smith – and therefore just watches night after night instead of being thrown into the action by the coach. You communicate, says Theis, but the coach ultimately decides. “I stay ready and do my thing. Whatever happens, will happen,” said the Salzgitter native.
The problem in Indy
“Jalen Smith has fought for the backup position thanks to a very good preseason that he showed and he has played very well so far,” said Carlisle, who won the NBA title in 2011 as head coach of Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks , his personnel decisions in the major positions. “Daniel is a very good player who we respect very much here. Of course he doesn’t like sitting on the bench, but he remains very professional.”
Neither Smith, starter Turner, nor fellow backup Jackson are known as NBA Ironmen. Always plagued by injuries, the three big men cannot always be relied on. Looking at their respective medical records, failures during the six-month regular season are almost inevitable. Indiana currently has no need for Theis in terms of play, as well as his honest hard work under the boards and on defense – but that doesn’t mean that it will stay that way for the rest of the season.
“He works and trains very hard to keep himself ready. We’ll probably need him at some point,” says Carlisle, who, at 64 years old and with more than three decades of coaching experience in the NBA, has seen it all. how quickly fate can change again. It’s easy to get sprained or end up in the league’s concussion protocol for days. That’s also one of the main reasons why the Pacers aren’t looking for a trade for Theis right now – although it never hurts to listen to other teams’ offers. This matter is made more difficult by the contract structure of many new deals: They may only be negotiated in December or may be packaged together with other deals in a trade package. The trade deadline is February 8, 2024.
Key player in historic gold
“I can’t speak for the Indiana Pacers, but he was fantastic for us,” Orlando’s Franz Wagner said of his national teammate after the game against the Atlanta Hawks in Mexico City. “We definitely won’t win the World Cup without his performance. He’s been fantastic all summer and I hope the best for him. I obviously want to see him play.”
Will the Braunschweig childhood friends Schröder and Theis be reunited?
(Foto: IMAGO/camera4+)
With 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds on average and an extremely strong 59 percent shooting rate from the field, Theis was one of the key players in the German national team’s historic World Cup gold medal win in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines a few months ago. His best performance came in the semifinals against the USA, where the center was Germany’s top scorer and one of the emotional alphas with 21 points and seven rebounds.
At that time, Theis emphasized to n-tv.de how fit he felt and how much fun he had playing in a real team. “The team is absolutely in the foreground. When you play successfully and win together, it makes you even more excited to be on the field together and play together.” The fact that he is an excellent teammate is also attested to in Indianapolis, where he always appears professional, positive and friendly despite pent-up frustration about his personal situation.
Where to go with the world champion?
Theis, who is earning $9.1 million in the third season of his four-year deal, only has a permanent contract for the current season. His team holds an option for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Contracts of this size are not necessarily non-negotiable in the NBA, but are typically aggregated to allow for larger deals. Would a team looking for another big man be willing to sacrifice young players and possibly draft picks to make a trade happen? And if so, which team?
Clubs like the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies have major injury concerns in their frontcourt. Immediately after their mega trade for James Harden, which resulted in the loss of depth in the squad, the Californians also lost backup center Mason Plumlee, who suffered a serious knee injury and will be out for up to two months. Behind starter Ivica Zubac, things are already getting very thin in the center and power forward positions. That’s one of the main reasons why the Clippers are said to have already called Indiana and asked about Theis’ availability – and of course the price.
The Grizzlies are also struggling with the loss of their big men Steven Adams, his backup Brandon Clarke and Xavier Tillmann – but recently strengthened themselves with Bismack Biyombo and therefore no longer have the ultimate urgency. Toronto is also looking for a replacement big. With Dennis Schröder’s team, the keen German basketball fan can of course particularly well imagine a reunion of the congenial DBB duo, who already knew each other from their youth days in Braunschweig.
If Indiana is not satisfied with the trade offers for Theis, a “buyout” would also be on the table: players in the last year of their contract are often bought out of their existing deal in order to give them the opportunity to get playing time elsewhere that they can get with the Can’t find current team. Experienced veterans are usually treated this way so that they can join an interested team of their choice. If Carlisle and the Pacers have not found a deal for Theis or a need for his athletic contribution on the floor after the trading deadline in February at the latest, this solution would probably be the best for everyone involved.
2023-11-12 09:28:00
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