Dennis the Conquerer

Dennis Schroder is the king of FIBA Basketball despite not being an NBA star. Good morning. Let's basketball.

Dennis Schroder already stood as the reigning MVP of the FIBA World Cup after leading Germany to a stunning gold in 2023 outside of Manila. And now he is the MVP of EuroBasket, leading Germany to another gold in Riga on Sunday, finishing with back-to-back 12-assist games in the semifinals and finals and perhaps more importantly finishing off an excellent Turkiye team with back-to-back clutch buckets in the clutch.

Warning: before you get to Herr Dennis, you're going to see some eye-popping action from Franz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Alperen Sengun. Helluva game.

Schroder of course also clinched a spot on the all-tournament team, joined by Wagner, Giannis, Luka and Sengun. Before you suggest that "one of these guys is doing his own thing" ... well, that's mostly true. Schroder is a very different level of player than the others; he's closest to Franz, who has the benefit of youth to augment his actual achievements in the league. But it's not particularly odd for players below the All-NBA level to win EuroBasket MVP: Willy Hernangomez held the title prior to Dennis, and Goran Dragic had it before that. Juan Carlos Navarro is a former winner. Schroder has had a better NBA career than most of those guys (maybe not Dragic).

The eyebrow-raiser is having a World Cup and EuroBasket MVP to his name. Schroder becomes just the sixth player to claim both awards, joining Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Drazen Petrovic, Drazen Dalipagic and Sergei Belov. Looking at the modern players, putting Schroder on a list with Pau and Dirk is really something.

The Dirk of it all is still there. Here's Schroder after the victory – an achievement the Nowitzki-led teams of the 2000s and 2010s never hit – in response to a question about where he stands as a hero of German basketball.