The FIBA World Cup, which is starting its final week of competition, has featured several former Boston Celtics players who have distinguished out. Six teams—Serbia, the US, Canada, Germany, Slovenia, and Latvia—remain in the running for medals following this morning’s quarterfinal matches. After Lithuania and Italy were eliminated this morning, Germany will play Latvia tomorrow, then Canada will play Slovenia, all for the chance to advance to the semifinals.
The World Cup has been dominated by NBA stars in the media. The tournament’s top scorers so far have been Karl-Anthony Towns of the Dominican Republic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Canada, Jordan Clarkson of the Philippines, Lauri Markkanen of Finland, Luka Doncic of Slovenia, Josh Giddey of Australia, Nikola Vucevic of Montenegro, and Bogdan Bogdanovic of Serbia.
Three former Celtics have performed exceptionally at the competition, despite the absence of any current Celtics players due to Kristaps Porzingis’s absence for Latvia due to plantar fasciitis.
Dennis Schroder of Germany is the top performer at the Fiba World Cup. He was a former Boston Celtic.
At the World Cup, Dennis Schroder has displayed the best play. Schroder has averaged 6.8 assists and 19.8 points per game on 50% shooting. Most recently, Doncic led his German team to a crushing victory over Slovenia, scoring 24 points on 8/11 shooting and dishing out 10 assists. He’s a lockdown defender as well.
FIBA Schroder is not a new phenomena; everyone is aware of how the gritty guard ups his game for international competition. When Schroder signed a one-year contract with the Celtics in 2021, he didn’t play his best basketball with the team, and after 49 games, he was eventually traded. Schroder has averaged 12.6 points and 4.5 assists per game throughout the course of his NBA career.
