Source: Europa Press Sports / Getty
Basketball is inherently an American sport, but has gone international with stars like Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic dominating the NBA.
But before them, you had Dallas Maverick great Dirk Nowitzki, and many of today’s stars looked up to their fellow European for inspiration, like Dennis Schröder, but that admiration was bittersweet because of his skin color.
Schröder was speaking with German news outlet Stern about seeing Nowitzki carry the flag for Germany back during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I was already sitting in front of the TV at the age of 14 when Dirk Nowitzki carried the flag at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. Back then, I thought: How cool, there can’t be a greater appreciation,” Schröder said.
More than a decade later, Schröder was the flag bearer for Germany during the 2024 Paris Olympics and is even the captain of Germany’s national basketball team, yet the honor doesn’t feel as big.
He continued, “Today, however, I know: It’s a great honor, but it will never be the same for me as it was for Dirk. I won’t receive the same love in this country because I’m dark-skinned.”
Beyond being Black, he believes other aspects set him apart from the typical German athlete, including his flashy style and tendency to indulge in consumerism with his career earnings sitting just over $100 million.
“I’ve made mistakes, I’m not perfect. Nevertheless, it’s wrong to judge someone you don’t know well,” he added. “This is a societal problem, and social media only exacerbates this superficiality and hatred. The fact that I was allowed to be a flag-bearer doesn’t make this story any better.”
Schröder’s been a professional for a long time, getting his start at 18 years old with Germany’s Phantoms Braunschweig before declaring for the 2013 draft, where the Atlanta Hawks chose him with the 17th overall pick. Over the next few seasons, he proved himself and even earned a $70 million contract extension before getting traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played there from 2018-2020 and then had one-year stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, and several other teams before landing with the Sacramento Kings earlier this summer.
Schröder’s talked about race before, including the time he got dragged for comparing an NBA trade to slavery.
See social media’s reaction to Schröder talking about race in Germany below.