NBA greats like Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025, and Tim Bontemps thinks Dennis Schroder could join them one day. Bontemps stated on The Hoop Collective podcast that Schroder will make it in if he leads Germany to glory in EuroBasket 2025.
“Dennis Schroder is going to make the Hall of Fame, and I think he’s definitely going to make the Hall of Fame if they win this tournament, which is going to cause people to go berserk,” Bontemps said. “… It’s a World Basketball Hall of Fame of all levels.
“When you look at Dennis Schroder’s international career, I think if they win this tournament, he’s going to make the Hall of Fame eventually as an international entry, which will, I’m sure, cause people to go crazy,” Bontempts added. “But he’s got a pretty damn good international resume if they win this thing.”
The Basketball Hall of Fame considers a player’s accomplishments not just in the NBA or any other league, for that matter, but also at the collegiate and international level. As Bontemps stated, Schroder has achieved a fair bit on the international stage.
Schroder helped Germany win the bronze medal at EuroBasket 2022 and was named to the All-Tournament team. While that was impressive, he went a couple of steps better a year later.
Schroder powered Germany to the gold medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. It was the first time that the nation had become world champions, and their star point guard was named MVP for his efforts.
That is significant in this context, as co-host Brian Windhorst pointed out that most of the players who have won MVP at the World Cup in modern history have made the Hall of Fame. If we look at the winners from 1990 onwards, there is only one player who hasn’t made it in among the ones who have retired, Dejan Bodiroga (1998).
The most recent winner before Schroder was Ricky Rubio in 2019, and he’ll be another interesting case. Bontemps doesn’t believe Rubio’s international resume is quite as good as Schroder’s, however.
He added that he’d expect the Sacramento Kings guard to win MVP at EuroBasket if the Germans take home the trophy. Schroder’s case would be all the stronger then, as not many have done that.
The last four players to win MVP at both tournaments are Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Toni Kukoc, and Drazen Petrovic. All of them are in the Hall of Fame.
So, it might not be a stretch to say that Schroder, who has career averages of 13.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game in the NBA, could be three wins away at EuroBasket from making the Hall of Fame. It won’t be easy to get those wins, though.
The Germans will be up against Slovenia in the quarterfinals, and they have one future Hall of Famer on their roster in Luka Doncic. Doncic has been the best player in the tournament thus far, and it will take a massive group effort from Germany to advance.
Schroder, who has averaged 20.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game at EuroBasket, will have to be at his best if the Germans are to make it to the semifinals for the second straight edition.
