EuroBasket 2025 is set to begin in two days and fans will get to witness some of the world’s best fighting for the trophy. Team Serbia, led by Nikola Jokic, is the favorite, but there are plenty of strong teams that could make a run at the gold medal, including Germany, France and Greece.
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Franz Wagner is one of the stars of the German team, and he spoke to Eurohoops this weekend to talk about what it’s like to go against players like Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic in an international setting.
Wagner was asked what makes Giannis such a special player and he explained just how much time opposition teams take to simply make specialized plans for the Greek.
“Giannis, you always have to know where he’s at,” Wagner said. “You have to gameplan for him as a team. Obviously he’s super athletic, super fast, super strong, and usually the tallest guy on the floor, so you can’t just expect one guy to defend him well.”
That’s an understatement about the two-time MVP, but Wagner has a lot of experience playing against Giannis since they’re both in the Eastern Conference. Wagner’s Magic has been one of the better defensive teams in the NBA the last couple years, finishing second both times in team defensive rating, but even Orlando has had trouble stopping the Greek Freak.
In six games against the Magic in that time, Giannis is averaging 35.5 points per game, a number better even than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 32.7 that he averaged on his way to the MVP last season.
Wagner said that not only are Giannis’ physical gifts great, he’s also someone who “plays extremely hard. Every time you play against him you got to be ready for a physical fight, in a basketball way.”
The last time Germany and Greece met, Wagner’s team did a solid job of containing Giannis in the 2024 Olympic quarterfinal. Giannis scored 22 points on 9-14 shooting but didn’t fill the stat sheet like he usually does, as he had only two rebounds and three assists. Wagner nearly matched him with 18 points of his own, and Germany prevailed by a score of 76-63 to move on to the semis, where they ultimately fell short against France and then Serbia for the bronze.
Germany also knocked Greece out of the 2022 EuroBasket quarterfinals, though Giannis can hardly be blamed for that one. He put up 31 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in that game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome 19 from Wagner and 26 from Dennis Schröder.
Germany is in Group B in this year’s edition of EuroBasket, while Greece is in Group C. That means that the earliest the two teams could face each other is the elimination round. Germany opens with Montenegro on Wednesday, while Greece faces Italy on Thursday.
Fans can catch all the EuroBasket action on Courtside 1891.
