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Jack Kayil has declared for the NBA Draft, but there’s still a strong chance the German combo guard will be playing key minutes for Mark Few and Gonzaga in the fall. The 6-foot-5 guard who currently plays for Alba Berlin of Germany’s professional Bundesliga division put his name in the draft on Friday, agents Kevin Bradbury and Milan Nikolic of LIFT Sports Management told Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
“We would start individual workouts at 8:30 in the morning. And Dennis, once in a while, would not be there at 8:30. “I think him and Bud had a lot of one-on-one conversations. It was like a college freshman trying to adapt to this new superstructure. It took a little bit of time and there were bumps along the way. From Dennis’ perspective, coming from Germany and all the success he already had over there, I think he expected to start right away. He was very insistent on that. He was very confident in his abilities.”
A native of Braunschweig, Germany, Alex played basketball professionally — a longtime passion he transferred to his son, encouraging Dennis to swap out a skateboard for sneakers. It ultimately shaped his little boy’s professional path. “When my dad passed away, playing in the NBA was the only goal,” Schröder told cleveland.com during a recent sit-down interview. “Get to the NBA, make sure I can take care of my family and make sure I get to a point where eventually I put my kids in position to be set up and successful.”
Tell us a little bit about growing up in Germany. How was your experience just growing up in Germany around basketball? You know, you were always very, very competitive. Where did you get all of that from?” Dennis Schroeder “I mean, in Germany, nowadays it’s so easy — I would say, as a black kid growing up in Germany, it’s easier now than back in the day when I was growing up. I had probably like three Black friends. That was it in the whole city, you know, and we had 250,000 people in my city. So, yeah, growing up, all these kids asking you questions, all these kids trying to get under your skin sharpened me. The mentality of it was, ‘Hey, it’s me against everybody else.’ It didn’t matter what we were playing — soccer, ping pong, basketball, skateboarding — I wanted to win. I wanted to be the best because I wanted to show everybody that I belong here. And, of course, my family — my wife says I got it from my mom because my mom is really competitive as well when we play card games or board games. And, yeah, I think I got it from growing up in Germany and from my family, of course — the same DNA: trying to win, trying to come out on top. And, yeah, that mentality sharpened me along the way.”
Dennis Schroeder: In my second year, I was close to going into the GM’s office and telling them they should trade me, because I wasn’t satisfied with my playing time and with the fact that they had me sitting on the bench. The year before that—or rather, the summer before that—I really wasn’t in Germany at all and had only been grinding, to show people that I really wanted to play and was ready to play. And then I got angry. Darvin Ham took me into his office. He had actually ordered soup for himself, then split the soup, put it down, and then sat down and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on with you, actually?’ And then he gave me a quote—and we’d probably have to bleep it, because I don’t want kids seeing that I’m cursing and using swear words—but he said, ‘You have to go through the shit to get to the good.’
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Now a free agent, the Sibenik native tallied 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds for Croatia in a home-and-away series against Germany. While he is ineligible for the current EuroLeague season due to registration deadlines, he is actively seeking a bridge contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 schedule to prepare for next year. “I’m waiting, I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. “I wanted a contract until the end of this season, plus the season after. So that I could get into some kind of rhythm, play the championship finals, and get ready for next season to show whether I’m the one or not. That hasn’t happened for now.”
Sources say Cleveland, meanwhile, passed on taking back Monk's contract in the Hunter deal rather than Schröder … although it certainly didn't hurt that Schröder has experienced no shortage of national team success with Germany. That is said to have appealed to Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, who on top of his own FIBA experiences knows Schröder from their time together in Atlanta.
"Our idea is to create this league – call it 12 to 16 teams – with the biggest countries having permanent franchises. Call it the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, or France. Two teams in each one of those markets that we know with certainty will have franchises there, and then we'll open it up to the rest of the ecosystem."
James, yesterday at the NBA game in Germany, your former teammate Dwight Howard was asked about some players in the Spanish league. One of the players he was asked about was Sergio Llull. "Who?" Harden asked. -Sergio Llull- "I don't remember," said the star, even though the point guard's name was repeated several times. "Don't you remember? He told a story in the summer, he recalled a story about how Houston wanted to sign him and you personally called him to convince him to go to Houston, but he ultimately decided to stay at Real Madrid." "I don't know the story," Harden said to end the discussion, not wanting to talk about it much despite being in a good mood after his performance leading the Clippers' comeback from an 18-4 deficit.
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Iisalo tagged up when he led teams in Germany and France before coming to the NBA. He’s implemented many of those concepts in his new home. The Grizzlies send at least three crashers to the glass on 18.8 percent of their shots, the fourth-highest frequency in the league. “It’s very hard to get into the low 120s in offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) without the offensive rebounding,” Iisalo said. “That’s what it takes to be an elite offensive team nowadays.”
Tatum also laid out countries that will likely host the 10-to-12 permanent NBA Europe franchises, identifying France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Greece. He also specifically singled out potential Euroleague clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and LDLC ASVEL (owned by former NBAer Tony Parker). “Almost like the Champions League of basketball in Europe,” Tatum said. “So brands like Real Madrid and Barca and Man City and PSG and AC Milan playing basketball. That’s pretty compelling. Not only premium live sports content that’s relevant in Europe, but it’s relevant globally. It’s relevant in Asia, it’s relevant in the United States and North America because some of the brands that we’re talking to have tremendous global followings.” He also mentioned there would likely be a bridge year before four other teams qualify for the league in Year 2, saying, “If you’re in Lithuania, if you’re in Serbia, if you’re in Croatia, other clubs in those markets, we want every team to have an opportunity to play into that top tier league.”
On September 12, Turkiye routed Greece in the EuroBasket Semifinals, before falling to Germany and settling with a silver medal. Greece and Giannis went on to capture bronze. In contrast to one-sided traffic in Riga’s Xiaomi Arena, ensuing statements created tension between Sengun and Giannis, with both players later apologizing for their actions. “I got motivation in every game now. I want to win in every game. I want to be a winning player. I don’t care who’s on the other team,” Sengun further downplayed any kind of lasting strain in his relationship with the 30-year-old Greek point forward.