Okay, hier ist die extrahierte, übersetzte Version des Artikels:
Franz Wagner hopes for NBA champion Isaiah Hartenstein to participate in the Basketball European Championship. Wagner himself wants to work on his leadership qualities.
Fourth place at the Olympic Games in Paris, the sensational World Cup title in 2023, and third place at the last European Championship are on the books.
The German national basketball team is looking back on arguably the most successful years in the association’s history. The DBB team also wants to stay on its successful course at the upcoming European Championship in Latvia, Finland, Poland, and Cyprus (August 27 to September 14, 2025).
One of the leaders this summer, alongside captain Dennis Schröder, is expected to be NBA star Franz Wagner again. With 24.2 points in 60 games, the small forward played the strongest scoring season of his NBA career, but Wagner doesn’t want to hold back with a view to the European Championship and the following season start.
Franz Wagner wants to continue the German national team’s success story
Hartenstein: “He is a different type of player”
“I enjoy playing for our country, also because the guys are extremely cool. Maybe it would be different if our team wasn’t so close. I look forward to seeing each and every one of them every time, it’s extremely fun in the summer,” Wagner said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The 23-year-old further explained: “It’s a different feeling than this feeling in the NBA that we talked about before. It’s six, seven weeks with the guys, it’s a bit like a class trip. Of course it’s exhausting, but everyone has to weigh that up for themselves.”
Center Isaiah Hartenstein, who was instrumental in winning the NBA championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder, will probably also weigh this burden. The Big Man has played in 19 games for the national team so far, but has not been part of the squad at major tournaments recently. Hartenstein last played for the national team in 2018.
In addition to established national players such as Johannes Voigtmann, Daniel Theis, and Johannes Thiemann, Hartenstein could be an important factor for the German team. “He’s a different type of player, but he won the NBA, Hartenstein would of course be great,” Wagner said.
Wagner wants to become a leader at the European Championship
National coach Álex Mumbrú also said in an interview with Bild: “I want him to be there. He knows that too. I’ve already visited him in the USA, we talk to each other often. But he won’t decide until the season is over. It was a very long one for him.”
In any case, Hartenstein is not fundamentally averse. He told Bild in January: “I definitely want to play for the national team again and give something back to Germany – maybe even win a title. If my body feels good after the long season, I’d like to play in the summer.”
Aside from the Hartenstein issue, Wagner placed high demands primarily on himself.
“I see myself as one of the leading players, but I’m not as natural a leader as Dennis (Schröder, editor’s note). That’s something I want to work on,” the Berlin native told the SZ, adding: “That’s why I also enjoy playing in the national team, it’s a good place in a familiar environment where I can try something like that. Especially with many guys who are older than me, that changes the situation again.”
At the European Championship, Germany will face Lithuania, Sweden, Great Britain, Montenegro, and the Finnish hosts in the group stage in Tampere. The knockout round will be held in Riga, Latvia’s capital. For the German national team, a medal will once again be the goal at the first tournament under the new national coach Mumbrú.
“It should be something in that direction. In the end, big games are always decided by small details, and if I’m honest, there was more in it at the last European Championship. That’s how we’ll go in there, with a lot of self-confidence, then you get good results,” Wagner confirmed.