Schroder, Gobert and Hernangomez at EuroBasket 2022 (Nicholas Muller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Schroder, Gobert and Hernangomez at EuroBasket 2022 (Nicholas Muller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
This year’s EuroBasket tournament featured some of the NBA’s brightest stars. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic all suited up for their home countries, but by the time the Semifinals rolled around, all of them had been eliminated from the competition.
Germany, Spain, France, and Poland were left to fight for the title. Poland was the only team in the final four that did not have any current NBA players on its roster. They pulled off a surprise win over Slovenia and Luka Doncic, but eventually lost to France in the semifinals.
Having NBA-caliber players on national teams proved to be a valuable asset in this competition, so let’s look at the top five NBA players in the EuroBasket semifinals.
1. Dennis Schröder dominated the EuroBasket competition for Germany
Germany lost their Semifinal game against Spain 91-96, ultimately securing third place over Poland, but Dennis Schröder still had a great game. He led Germany with 30 points, 8 assists and 2 steals, making it the best game of his career with the German national team.
Schröder’s speed when driving to the basket made him almost unstoppable until Spain eventually found their footing defensively in the latter half of the game. In recognition of his outstanding performance, Schröder was voted on the All-Tournament team, which honored the five best players in the competition.
Over the course of the tournament, Schröder ranked third in total points with 177. He averaged 22.1 points and 7.1 assists as he was the engine behind Germany’s offense and the main reason they made it to the Semifinals in the first place.
This year, Schröder displayed maturity and growth on the court that had been missing from his game before. He really grew into his leadership role on the German national team and became a much better playmaker, focused on elevating his teammates rather than selfishly trying to score whenever he can.
Schröder seems to have come a long way, but it was still not quite enough to beat Spain and take a shot at the gold medal. At least his stellar EuroBasket performance earned him an NBA contract.
