“Then there’s a lot in it”
Schröder receives a prominent new addition
Oct 16, 2025 – 2:03 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
The 2011 NBA champion praises the captain of the German national team for his great successes in the DBB dress.
Dirk Nowitzki has a clear opinion in the debate about a place for Dennis Schröder in the Hall of Fame. “For me he is an absolute Hall-of-Famer. There are not many who were MVP at the European Championships and the World Championships and won both tournaments. So for me he is an absolute Hall-of-Famer internationally,” said Germany’s basketball icon in the SID interview at Amazon Prime’s NBA launch event in Los Angeles.
In the USA, after the German national team won the European Championship title in mid-September, discussion arose as to whether the DBB captain would be a candidate for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame due to his international achievements. As a rule, players are immortalized there for their successes in the NBA no earlier than three years after the end of their careers, but international achievements can also be taken into account.
Nowitzki, NBA champion in 2011 and future TV expert on Amazon Prime, was the first German to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023. The world association FIBA also has its own hall of fame, where Detlef Schrempf has been the only basketball player from Germany to have a place since 2021.
Schröder has been playing in the NBA since 2013, but he has so far been denied a championship and even being named an all-star. At the 2023 World Cup triumph and also this year at the European Championships, the 32-year-old was voted the tournament’s most valuable player (MVP).
From the new NBA season, which starts next week, Schröder will play for the Sacramento Kings. Although experts have little confidence in the team from California, Nowitzki has hope: “Sacramento can be dangerous, they have good players. I hope that Dennis plays a good year and that they might even get into the play-offs, that would be great for them. We all know that he has the class and the athleticism. I hope that he adapts well. Then I think there is a lot possible.”
Especially since Schröder is apparently receiving well-known reinforcements from the Sacramento Kings. Nine-time All-Star player Russell Westbrook is moving to the NBA franchise in the US state of California, as reported by the AP news agency, among others, with reference to a person familiar with the matter. Sports channel ESPN used Westbrook’s agent Jeff Schwartz as a source for the report of the confirmed move.
The 2017 NBA MVP most recently played for the Denver Nuggets and was a so-called free agent. According to ESPN, Westbrook is expected to be officially introduced this week and will receive a one-year contract. If the deal with Sacramento is made official, the 36-year-old would be entering his 18th NBA season. The new season in the North American professional league begins next week.