Germany is celebrating after a thrilling gold medal game at EuroBasket 2025 against Turkey. Sacramento Kings guard Dennis Schroder led his squad to their first gold medal in EuroBasket since 1993, but he had some thoughts on the decision to name Turkey's Ergin Ataman best coach of the tournament.
Germany defeated Turkey in the EuroBasket final on Sunday night, 88-83. Isaac Bonga led the way in scoring with 20 points for Germany while Franz Wagner added 18 points and eight rebounds. But it was Dennis Schroder who scored the final four points in clutch time to put the game away and give Germany the victory. In 34 minutes of action, Schroder finished with 16 points, and a game-high 12 assists.
Alperen Sengun led the way for Turkey with a game-high 28 points and three blocked shots. Cedi Osman poured in 23 points and Shane Larkin added 13 points and nine assists.
After the game, Schroder was named MVP of the 2025 EuroBasket, but was quick to call out the committee that voted Turkey's head coach, Ergin Ataman, as the “Best Coach” of the tournament.
“Ataman, fuck out of here!” Schroder shouted, according to German news outlet BILD. “Best Coach? My ass!”
During a live stream on Instagram during the team's celebration the bus, Schroder continued to rip Ataman.
“Ataman f–k out of here,” Schroder continued. “Yeah, f–k out of here, Ataman. F–k out of here. He said he's the best coach in the last 10 years. My a–. Uh huh.”
DENNIS SCHRODER, ERGİN ATAMAN'A HAKARET EDİYOR 🤬
Almanya'nın takım otobüsünde kutlama yaparken Twitch'te yayın açan Dennis Schroder, Ergin Ataman'ın EuroBasket'in en iyi koçu seçilmesini eleştirdi.
"Ataman, defol git buradan! En İyi Koç mu? Kıçım!" pic.twitter.com/HC4H8tZ1iw
— Mervan Nazım (@NazimMervan) September 15, 2025
According to BasketNews, Turkey's Ergin Ataman had been adamant heading into the championship game that he would lead his team to the gold medal.
“If I am in the final, I will win,” Ataman reportedly said. “I'm ready to have fists tomorrow when we win the cup.”
While Turkey may not have won the whole thing, they did finish with silver following an undefeated and dominant run to the gold medal game. Turkey went 5-0 in group play, winning by a total of 100 points. That was a group that featured Nikola Jokic and Serbia as well as Kristaps Porzingis and host nation Latvia.
During the last FIBA World Ranking, Turkey was ranked as the 27th best team in the world while Germany sat at number three, Serbia two, and the United States one. For Turkey to reach the gold medal game is a win in itself, and the country clearly has a bright future with a 23-year old superstar in Sengun still being years away from his prime.
In the last three years, Germany won bronze in EuroBasket 2022, gold in World Cup 2023, and gold in EuroBasket 2025 while also losing the bronze medal game in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Schroder was named the MVP of both the World Cup in 2023 and this EuroBasket tournament.
In nine games during the 2025 EuroBasket, Dennis Schroder averaged 20.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game while shooting 46.2 percent from the field, 32.8 percent from three, and 87.2 percent from the free throw line.
