It would have been too nice: after winning the Basketball World Cup the following year, a medal at the Olympics. But things turned out differently. The German basketball players wrote new success stories, and not just with the Olympic gold in 3×3.
Gold sensation in 3×3 basketball
In the Sportsman of the Year election, the title for the best team went to basketball for the second time in a row: After the world champions last year, this time there was no way around the 3×3 basketball players: Svenja Brunckhorst, Sonja Greinacher, Elisa Mevius and Marie Reichert sensationally won gold at the Olympic Games in Paris.
The 3×3 Olympic champions after the final victory in Paris
The path of the two leaders, Greinacher and Brunckhorst, also illustrates the problems in German women’s basketball: Both are long-time national basketball players, have a lot of international experience, but switched to 3×3 basketball, also because the prospects for top female basketball players in Germany are still manageable.
DBB women – Olympic premiere with exclamation mark
But something is moving. For the first time ever, a DBB women’s team managed to qualify for the Olympics in (traditional) basketball. In Paris, the team led by captain Marie Gülich and WNBA star Satou Sabally made a big statement right at the start with their victory against European champions Belgium and also prevailed in the strong preliminary group with the USA.
The disappointment over the exit in the quarter-finals against France quickly disappeared, also because of the realization that under national coach Lisa Thomaidis a team has grown that can keep up with the top nations at a major tournament. The preliminary round of the European Championships will take place in Hamburg in 2025, and then the World Cup in Berlin in 2026. Clubs in Germany are already seeing more girls wanting to play basketball.
Championship titles for Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally in the WNBA
Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally, Satou’s younger sister, wrote their very own basketball fairytale this year: the two national players won New York Liberty the championship title in the WNBA. For playmaker Fiebich, it was the next logical step in her remarkable career to date: She had already been named most valuable player twice in a row in Spain, in Europe’s best league, before moving to the US professional league in the summer of 2024. There, in her first season, she achieved what Dirk Nowitzki had spent half his career doing: she won the championship title in the US professional league.
National players Leonie Fiebich (r.), Nyara Sabally at the championship celebration with New York Liberty.
In the dressing room, the team received a visit from soul superstar Alicia Keys, and after winning the title, Fiebich and Sabally drove through Manhattan in the open double-decker bus at the championship parade. One of many “surreal moments”as the woman from Landsberg said, which will probably continue to be remembered.
No medal to say goodbye to Gordon Herbert
For the 2023 basketball world champions, a cycle came to an end in 2024, as Gordon Herbert emphasized before his last tournament as DBB head coach: After European Championship bronze and World Cup gold, there should be the third medal in a row at the Olympics in Paris , was the goal given before the games. The fact that it wasn’t enough in the end was because the team around Dennis Schröder and young star Franz Wagner had a weak phase at the worst possible time: in the semi-final against hosts France, who had been dismantled in the preliminary round. In the end, the DBB team also lost the game for third place against Serbia.
The fact that fourth place, which was also the best performance at the Olympics, was ultimately accepted as a disappointment also shows the status that the German basketball players have now achieved among the top nations. The DBB apparently doesn’t have to worry much about the future either: the U18 juniors won the European Championship title in the summer.
European basketball continues to advance
For the first time in a long time, the Americans competed at the Olympics with all of their superstars. In the end, it took two real superhero performances, from LeBron James in the semi-final against Serbia and from Steph Curry in the final against France, to actually take the planned basketball gold back home. The Olympics were further evidence that European basketball has continued to catch up.
In Europe, the Euroleague is increasingly self-confidently marketing itself as an alternative to the US professional league, with tougher competition and a European fan culture. But this also includes excesses like the one at the Final Four in Berlin in May, when there were violent clashes between fans from Istanbul and Athens. In terms of sport, Panathinaikos beat Real Madrid in the final and became the Euroleague record winner with their fifth title.
Police forces in front of the stands with Panathinaikos fans at the Final Four in Berlin
Economically, the Euroleague is clearly number one in the multitude of European competitions. According to media reports, Abu Dhabi has secured the hosting of the Final Four in 2025, reportedly for 50 million euros. A German club is also benefiting from this, the only one so far that is also a shareholder in the privately organized Euroleague: FC Bayern. It smells of supremacy, in the BBL Bayern confidently won the championship and cup double.
Eight German basketball players in the NBA – more than ever
The best German basketball players are still drawn to the USA. Eight German players were under contract in the NBA at the start of the 2024/25 season, more than ever before. And they are also pushing into completely new dimensions when it comes to salaries.
Isaiah Hartenstein caused a stir at the beginning of July with his new contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder over $87 million for three years. But this was topped just a few days later when Franz Wagner was at the Orlando Magic received a five-year contract worth more than $200 million. Sums that have previously only been paid in the NBA for absolute top stars.
Hartenstein recently announced a possible comeback to the national team – promising news, also with a view to the European Championships in autumn 2025.