For NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki, the title triumph of the German basketball players at the European Championship is something very special. “It was unthinkable 20 years ago that we would be both reigning world champions and European champions today. This generation is the best we have ever had in German basketball,” said Nowitzki in the interview of the “ZEIT”.
The German star Dennis Schröder received a special praise from the 47-year-old. For Nowitzki, the 32 -year -old Braunschweiger is “one of the best European building actors of all time”. Schröder will play for the Sacramento Kings in the North American professional league NBA in the coming season.
The German basketball players won the European Championship final in Riga against Turkey last Sunday with 88:83. Two years earlier, Schröder and Co. had become world champion in Manila.
Nowitzki without a big title with the national team
Nowitzki himself had not been granted the big titles in his national team career. In 2002 he became the DBB team WM press, 2005 Vice European Champion. He is pleased that the generation now gets title: “I think it’s nice – should be – that I could motivate the youth of the time and became such good national team players.” Nowitzki, who became NBA champion in 2011 and played a total of 21 seasons for the Dallas Mavericks, resigned in April 2019 as an active basketball player.