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Q. You're bringing the NBA championship trophy back to Germany. Isaiah Hartenstein: Yeah. For the for the first time. I mean I think it's something cool. I grew up there. So just to have the people out there to see it, the kids…
Donatas Urbonas: Dragan Tarlac, Bayern's current sports director, and Adrian Sarmiento, the Chief Strategy Officer, will jointly take over full responsibility for the club's operational management, forming a CEO duo starting in January 2026.
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What was seen and heard on a tour, however, was reminiscent of the mission LeBron James launched in 2011 to teach disadvantaged children to read. It’s a mission that grew into a public school James opened in 2018, I Promise School, and a job training program for adults that includes the first Starbucks of its kind. Something similar is happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Albert Gutzmann School, opened in 1972, is one of four elementary schools in Berlin with full sponsorship from Alba Berlin, the city’s pro basketball team that plays in the EuroLeague. Alba has dozens of employees in those schools providing counseling, sports coaching, after-school learning and a connection for the students (and their families) to a pro team that makes them want to stay engaged at school. Alba Berlin is the only basketball franchise in Germany, if not the whole EuroLeague, this involved in its local school system.
“I didn’t play pick-and-roll until I was, I don’t know, maybe 15, 16, but I learned spatial awareness,” Wagner said. In the Alba Berlin program, which, when it comes to player development, stresses fundamentals, practice and understanding basketball concepts with similar vigor and intensity, Wagner felt a foundation was laid that not only launched his pro career but better prepared him for the NBA than at least some of his American colleagues. “Once you have that spatial awareness, now you can solve the little puzzle that a pick and roll is,” Wagner said. “I think we just learn those basic, bigger skills that you can just apply to anything. I think I learned those from probably a young age.”
Donatas Urbonas: As I mentioned earlier, Real Madrid is in the conversation. But from what I’ve heard, the NBA isn’t particularly interested in the traditional, passionate fan bases or the teams we’ve historically considered European powerhouses. This includes teams from Greece, Turkey, and Serbia—they’re not in the NBA’s big picture. Instead, the NBA seems to be targeting markets like Berlin, Milan, Paris, and Great Britain. They’re focusing on teams and markets in capitalist-driven areas. For instance, they’re considering two teams from Germany, two teams from France, two from Spain, and potentially teams from Manchester and Milan.
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on Wednesday that the league is “exploring the possibilities” for future international games, but officials “haven't yet determined whether they'll return to Paris next year,” according to Clement Martel of LE MONDE. Silver “suggested to German journalists that the public's wait across the Rhine -- basketball's other major market -- might soon come to an end.” Meanwhile, Spurs C Victor Wembanyama “tried to leverage his influence,” saying to the Paris crowd a few minutes before the first of two NBA Paris Games last week, “It's a great joy to come and play in Paris, and I don't want it to be the last time, so I need you to make as much noise as possible to show that the Spurs can come back and play here next year”
Maxi Kleber has ruled out a return to the national team of Germany. The 32-year-old forward represented his country in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, following appearances in the Qualifiers of the 2019 World Cup and the 2014 EuroBasket. Since public criticism by the leader of the senior national team, Dennis Schroder, for skipping the 2022 EuroBasket, he did not feature among selections for the next major international tournaments. An NBA player attached to the Dallas Mavericks over the last eight years, Kleber talked to Augsburger Allgemeine about relations with the national team and ruled out a return. “The situation was what it was. That’s why I had to come to terms with it,” he described following Germany in last summer’s Olympic Games, “I watched the games as a fan, of course, because it is always positive for German basketball when the national team is successful.”
“It’s ultimately about basketball continuing to grow in Germany. And the Olympic Games that everyone can watch on television is a great platform,” the Wurzburg native added, “I know a lot of guys on the team very well or are my friends, it was also great to watch them.” ... “I know him, but I haven’t spoken to him yet,” he said, “The national team is definitely over for me. So, there will be no return”.
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