Dennis Schröder has reached out to his former national team colleague Maxi Kleber after he withdrew from the World Cup. But the Mavs pro seems to have put the national team chapter behind him for the time being
Maxi Kleber played his last NBA game to date at the beginning of November, since when the Würzburg native has been out due to a toe injury. The opponent in this game? The Toronto Raptors with national team captain Dennis Schröder.
The very same Schröder had caused quite a stir in the summer with his criticism of Kleber and ultimately the 31-year-old’s withdrawal from the World Championship in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, where the DBB team had sensationally won the gold medal.
“Before the game, I just said ‘congratulations’ on the title and the individual success – nothing else,” Kleber reported on Deutschlandfunk radio last week about the apparently brief encounter with Schröder.
Schröder approaches Kleber
In an interview with “SPOX”, the point guard reached out to his former teammate for a potential return to the national team ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. “Every team needs a Maxi Kleber,” Schröder made clear. “He plays defense, spreads the court, grabs rebounds and can score alley-oops. He’s also not too bad for the dirty work.”
At the same time, however, he emphasized the good chemistry in the current squad, which was an important factor in winning the World Cup gold medal. “We won gold nonetheless and of course we have to be careful who we take with us and what we do,” said Schröder about the absence of Kleber. “But I’m not paid to make the decision, that’s up to the coach. “
Schröder explains his Kleber statements
In the summer, Schröder criticized Kleber for declining to play for the national team the previous year and not making a sufficient commitment to it – for reasons that were incomprehensible to him: “If you say to Gordon Herbert: I’m Maxi, and I want to train ball handling in the summer and work on my game – Maxi, sorry, but you don’t have a game.” According to Kleber, however, the big man wanted to recover properly from an injury last year
A little later, Schröder apologized for these statements, but now he explained again: “I didn’t express myself properly last time, so of course people in the media went crazy.” Instead, he wanted to protect his team-mates “who were at the European Championships last year. That was my only point of reference to perhaps get this team back together again.”
Kleber, however, had a very different impression. “I was still pleased that they had this success, I think it’s important for basketball in Germany,” he now emphasized. However, he is done with the national team chapter for the time being. “I said in the summer that I think I would bring more unrest than stability or help. And if that’s the case, then I’d rather stay away – for the simple reason that the team’s success is more important to me. And if that means I’m watching, then I’ll just watch. “
