© Kolb
The next world and European champion is coming to the SAP Garden: National team center Daniel Theis and his ambitious AS Monaco visit Bayern Basketball on Thursday night in the second part of the double week. The Monegasques reached the EuroLeague Final Four title game in 2025 and, after recent setbacks, will be eager to respond. The German champions, meanwhile, have won six of their last eight games and are determined to keep the momentum going. Tip-off is at 8:30 p.m. (MagentaSport).
France's champions recently surprised Real Madrid
“Monaco remains a favorite to reach the Final Four for me, after they were in last year’s final and the team shows a lot of continuity with few changes,” says Bayern head coach Svetislav Pesic. “They lost on Tuesday, but we all know how difficult it is to play in Kaunas, where Zalgiris is having a very strong season. So we’re not interested in that result. It will be a tough game and we still want to try to replicate our recent performances.”
Pesic was referring to the 87–104 at Zalgiris, where the 2021 EuroCup winners could only play the game even after the first quarter (18–35) in front of 14,500 fans. Monaco thus dropped to 15–11 and tenth place, after unrest at the club had accompanied a run of four straight defeats. The team around EuroLeague legend Vassilis Spanoulis, however, responded to last week’s bigger headlines with a 113–86 statement against Le Portel and solidified their clear lead in France’s Pro A (16–2, just like Bayern in the Bundesliga).
Mike James is Topscorer of Monaco | © EuroLeague
The visitors’ immense quality certainly hasn’t vanished. EuroLeague All-Stars Mike James (16.4 PPG in 349 games) and Nikola Mirotic (14.4 PPG in 302 games) are flanked by especially athletic standouts like Alpha Diallo (12.5 PPG), Elie Okobo (11.2 PPG) — and of course Theis. The German national team center joined the team a year ago and is again having a strong season, averaging 10.0 points and 5.2 rebounds.
Best offense in the EuroLeague
In the first meeting before Christmas, Bayern were chanceless after halftime against the EuroLeague’s most potent offense (90.9 PPG) and lost 77–103 (39–47). Last season, Bayern beat Monaco for the first time, 95–94 at the SAP Garden.
“Monaco is a very talented team, we know that from the first game,” says FCBB center Wenyen Gabriel, who turned in a strong performance on Tuesday against Paris with 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals. “I hope we keep our defensive identity and again give everything for a win.”