2023-07-18 21:15:28
National player Maxi Kleber has told the basketball magazine BIG that he will cancel the upcoming Basketball World Cup (August 25 to September 10). The NBA player from the Dallas Mavericks was also reacting to the previous statements by captain Dennis Schröder, who had criticized Kleber’s nomination for the World Cup.
“The recent unfortunate and inappropriate public statements regarding me have made it 100 percent clear that I am not unreservedly welcome in the national team,” said Kleber in his statement, with which he apparently refers to Schröder’s statements in the basketball podcast “Got Nexxt”, but without mentioning the captain by name.
Kleber, who canceled participation in the European Championships last year for fitness reasons, started this summer with “full intention and motivation” to take part in the World Cup, he explained to the trade magazine BIG, which excerpted Kleber’s statement on Tuesday evening ( July 18, 2023) on his Twitter channel. The “Main-Post” from Kleber’s hometown of Würzburg also quoted the national player’s statement.
It is not his goal to “destroy the good chemistry in the team from last summer,” said the 31-year-old from the Dallas Mavericks. He also didn’t want to become a “source of distraction”. “So I’ve decided it’s best for everyone involved if I don’t play.”
Criticism of Kleber’s nomination
DBB captain Schröder was critical of Kleber’s nomination for the extended World Cup squad in the popular “Got Nexxt” podcast last weekend. “Maxi wasn’t there last year,” Schröder complained and recalled the agreement made in the run-up to the last, successful European Championships, when national coach Gordon Herbert’s team won bronze. “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.”
Kleber mainly justified his cancellation for the summer of the European Championship with the fact that he wanted to take a break following a long-term injury. A reason that Schröder apparently only understood to a limited extent, as he explained in the podcast: “If he says I’m signing my contract this summer and I want to be with the team so that I can get even more money, then I understand that “, explained Schroeder. “But if you say to Gordon Herbert: ‘Hey, listen: I’m Maxi and I want to train ballhandling and work on my game in the summer – Maxi, sorry, but you don’t have a game.'”
Schröder on Kleber’s EM cancellation: “It bothered me a bit”
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,” said Schröder regarding Kleber, who is still under contract in Dallas until 2026.
The German Basketball Association (DBB) initially announced an internal clarification following Schröder’s statements became known on Monday evening. The mere fact that Schröder commented on the nomination of Kleber, an established NBA player, gave the matter a personal touch.
Schröder relativizes statements and blames the media
Schröder then spoke up in a video published on Tuesday on his YouTube channel, in which he put his statements into perspective: “It was not meant badly,” said the 29-year-old and also addressed Kleber directly: “Maxi, if that came across as weird, then my apologies. That should be zero negative.”
He explained his statements to Kleber once more, Schröder explained. As captain, he only wanted to do something for his players. Because there can only be twelve players in the final World Cup squad and Kleber would have been seeded as an experienced NBA player, at least one of the bronze medal winners from the previous year would have had to stay at home. According to Schröder in his video statement, he found this to be unfair “for the people who were there at the European Championship last year”.
Schröder mainly blamed the reporting for the irritation following his interview: “You know how the media are,” he said to Kleber. They tried to “twist things and set fires,” said Schröder. “I don’t think that’s okay.”
So far no public statement from the DBB
Apparently Kleber didn’t get this explanation. On the contrary, as his resignation from the World Cup made clear, he should feel publicly pilloried by the captain. It was obviously out of the question for him to play together with Schröder in the national team at the World Cup. But he will “cheer on and support the team as a fan,” said Kleber.
So far, there has been no public statement from the DBB following Kleber’s cancellation. Bastian Doreth, former captain of the national team, demanded a clarifying statement from the association via Twitter.
For the DBB, the conflict comes at an inopportune time. At the home European Championship last year, Schröder, who had often been viewed critically before, presented himself as a real captain and carried his teammates away. But now, shortly before the start of the World Cup preparations, the old discussions regarding Schröder’s leadership qualities might flare up once more.
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.
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