Pacers center Daniel Theis playing for Germany in FIBA World Cup Play
Indiana Pacers center Daniel Theis will play for Germany, his home country, during the 2023 FIBA World Cup that begins next month.
Theis played for the German squad last summer in EuroBasket, and the Pacers center ended up helping his team earn a bronze medal. He had a strong performance at the end of a busy offseason.
Last summer, Theis played for the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. Then, he played for Germany ahead of World Cup qualifying play and again into EuroBasket. That filled up his whole summer, and he basically had no offseason. That was on top of being traded to the Pacers, and he was injured from knee overuse upon joining the team.
This time around, he has a big gap between NBA play and his stint with the national team. "I'm excited. I've got a long summer right now, so I can prepare my body, myself for hopefully a long and great journey with Team Germany again," Theis told Eurohoops in late May.
Playing for Germany will be a great opportunity for Theis to show off his conditioning level. After starting off the 2022-23 season with surgery, he only played in seven games last year. Once he showed that he was healthy for the blue and gold, the team opted to give their backup center minutes to younger players.
Theis averaged 7.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game for Indiana this past season. He shot 47.7% from the field. With solid play during the World Cup, Theis could make a case that he deserves to be the Pacers backup center this season as the team looks to take a step forward.
Germany opens World Cup play against Japan on August 25. They will play in Group E, who will open the competition playing in Okinawa, Japan.
Along with Theis, the Pacers will also be represented by Tyrese Haliburton (United States) during FIBA action. Assistant coach Jim Boylen will be working with the USA Select Team as well. The earliest that USA and Germany could square off would be the Semifinals or 5-8 Classification round, which won't take place until early September.
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