National team captain Dennis Schröder has criticized Maxi Kleber’s nomination for the World Cup squad. The German Basketball Association (DBB) sees a need for clarification and has announced that it will deal with Schröder’s criticism internally, as a spokesman for the association said.
In the popular basketball podcast “Got Nexxt”, DBB captain Schröder criticized Kleber’s nomination for preparation for the upcoming World Cup (August 25 to September 10) in Asia. The international from the Dallas Mavericks had canceled for the European Championship last year and justified this by saying that he wanted to take a break after knee problems. “Maxi wasn’t there last year”Schröder complained and recalled the agreement in the run-up to the last, successful European Championships with the bronze medal. “If you haven’t made a commitment – that was actually the message for all of us – then you won’t be there next year either.”
Schröder’s criticism of Kleber’s EM cancellation: “That bothered me a bit”
Now that Kleber is supposed to return to the national team for the World Cup, Schröder recalled his cancellation from the previous year in the interview. The playmaker, who will play for the Toronto Raptors next season, apparently couldn’t understand Kleber’s reasoning: “If he says I’ll sign my contract this summer and I want to be with the team so I can get even more money out of it, then I understand.”explained Schröder. “But if you say to Gordon Herbert: ‘Hey, listen: I’m Maxi and I want to train ball handling and work on my game in the summer – Maxi, sorry, but you don’t have a game'”.
At the age of 31, Kleber, who was born in Würzburg, no longer has to work on his game, it’s just a matter of recognizing and playing to his strengths in the best possible way. “For me it’s like this: So Maxi, work on your game, you can’t play Natio for that? That bothered me a bit, I have to be honest. I just didn’t feel that. I’m always a straight, straight guy.”said Schröder about Kleber, who is still under contract in Dallas until 2026.
Kleber, Bonga and Moritz Wagner are there – Herbert is spoiled for choice
National coach Gordon Herbert announced the provisional squad of 18 for the World Cup preparations in June. In addition to the twelve bronze medal winners from the previous year, Herbert nominated six other players, including Kleber, who had signaled his willingness to play to the national coach in the spring. Because only twelve players are going to the World Cup and the national coach can hardly do without an experienced NBA player like Kleber, at least one of the players from the successful European Championship team would have to stay at home. Especially since Moritz Wagner and Isaac Bonga, who were injured shortly before the start of the tournament last year, are available this time.
At the World Cup, the German team meets hosts Japan, Australia and Finland in the preliminary round in Okinawa. For a direct ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the DBB selection would have to be one of the two best European teams.