The NBA situation puts a strain on Theis
German World Cup hero sours on the substitutes’ bench
November 9, 2023, 5:10 p.m
Daniel Theis plays a key role in the German basketball players’ sensational World Cup gold. Back in the NBA, however, the 31-year-old can only do one thing: watch. The Indiana Pacers are relying on younger players. Dennis Schröder had an idea how Theis could get back on the field.
Daniel Theis waited in vain again. Not even in the final phase, when his Indiana Pacers had long since won, was the basketball world champion allowed to collect his first NBA minutes of the new season. Despite his strong World Cup, the center has so far languished without being used on the bench. This fuels speculation about a change.
“After a great summer, I’m obviously not happy with the situation I’m in right now,” Theis recently told the US online portal MassLive: “I want to play and take all the good things from the summer with me into the season but the season is long. We’ll see how it goes and what happens.”
Head coach Rick Carlisle also left Theis out for the full 48 minutes in the 134:118 win against the Utah Jazz – for the eighth time in the eighth game of the season. The coach understands Theis’ displeasure. “I don’t blame him, he shouldn’t be happy with that,” said Carlisle: “I don’t want to have players in the team who are happy not playing.”
Move to Toronto? Or back to the Celtics?
But why is a player of Theis’ caliber, which he impressively demonstrated in the World Cup triumph in Manila, so left out in the NBA? Finally, national coach Gordon Herbert called him the “best player in Asia that no one talks about” after Theis had impressed in his interaction with his childhood friend Dennis Schröder – and was the great defensive anchor of the world champion team.
Theis’ involvement in Indianapolis has not been under a good star since he moved there in the summer of last year. After a long knee injury, the 31-year-old only made his debut for the Pacers in February, but only played seven games before Carlisle preferred to rely on younger players. This continued when Theis lost the race for the backup position behind starting center Myles Turner to the younger Jalen Smith.
What will happen next in this tricky case is completely unclear. Theis is in the third year of a well-paid four-year contract that will pay him $9.1 million this season. Meanwhile, the Pacers have an option for a one-year extension next year, which is unlikely given the current situation and Theis’ salary of $9.5 million. Then Theis would be free.
However, it would probably be better for his sporting career to move to a team earlier that guarantees him playing time – before the trade deadline at the beginning of February. Schröder recently brought his friend into conversation with the Toronto Raptors in an interview with the “Braunschweiger Zeitung” and spoke of Theis as a potential “huge asset”. The Boston Celtics, with whom Theis has already been twice and with whom he reached the NBA Finals in 2022, are also mentioned. The only thing that is certain at the moment is that “business as usual” would hardly help Daniel Theis.