Former Celtic Daniel Theis Explains Why It’s Hard for EuroLeague Stars to Adjust to NBA

After the NBA, the EuroLeague is the second biggest professional basketball association in the world. Unfortunately, the majority of EuroLeague stars aren’t able to dominate in the NBA like Luka Doncic.

Former Boston Celtics big man Daniel Theis was once a starting-caliber player in the NBA. The 33-year-old recently moved on from North America to play for AS Monaco in the EuroLeague.

Coming to the US from Germany’s Bundesliga, where he had been a 4x MVP and 3x champion, Theis had clearly mastered his talents and was able to transfer that skill set to eight successful seasons here.

Unlike Theis, though, many European stars typically aren’t able to carry over their success in the East to the West. Theis cites one specific reason.

“They’re so established in the EuroLeague and usually the MVPs win the EuroLeague,” Theis said on Euro Insiders. “Then, coming to the NBA. It’s a different basketball.”

Theis provided a recent example of a EuroLeague MVP whose NBA success didn’t transfer, former Sacramento Kings forward Sasha Vezenkov.

In the 2022-23 season, Venzekov earned MVP honors, averaging 17.6 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 66% from the field with Greece’s Olympiacos. “For Vezenkov, [the Kings] used him as a stay-in-the-corner shooter. He didn’t even come to the ball. Stuff like that is very hard to adjust to,” Theis said.

During his first stint with the club, Vezenkov would receive mid-post touches and have open rein to conduct the offense. Once he arrived in Sacramento, the Kings utilized him strictly as a corner three-point threat.

The entire identity for most EuroLeague MVPs requires the basketball to be in their hands. Luckily, that wasn’t the key to Theis’ game. “I never was a player who needed the ball much to impact the game,” he proclaimed.

Theis understood that, aside from a few paint touches here or there, he wouldn’t be scoring the ball too often. What he needed to do was set good screens, crash the glass and anchor the team’s defense. Those are all things the 33-year-old can still do very well.

The 6-foot-8 big hasn’t ruled out a return to the NBA. If he were to return, it is safe to say that he would continue to impact winning.