'You gotta be smart when they pull you over': NBA guard Dennis Schroder on racism in the U.S.

Dennis Schroder was an integral part of Germany’s 2023 FIBA World championship victory, and served as an important player during the Olympics. Despite him giving it his all on the court, Schroder has recently shared racial adversity he had to deal with as a youth in Germany. All statistics are sourced from Basketball Reference.

Dennis Schroder was born on September 15, 1993 in Braunschweig, Germany. According to the NBA’s website, Schroder’s father was German and his mother was from Gambia.

The NBA’s website reveals that Schroder’s first athletic loves were soccer and skateboarding. He would eventually switch to basketball when he was 11 years old.

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Schroder found himself sticking out athletically, and perhaps in ways he didn’t want socially. According to Bleacher Report, he was only one of two black children in a school with around 800 students.

Schroder remembered the types of questions his friend would receive. “I had a white friend, Fabian; we were really close. We still talk. But other people would say, ‘look at him. He’s black. He’s got dirt all over his body.’ Stuff like that.” Schroder told Bleacher Report, “so I just accepted it and went from there.”

Schroder told Andscape that people asked him in kindergarten, “Why is your skin black? Why are you dirty?” His sister Awa told Bleacher Report, “Kids made jokes. You learn the language. You learn to protect yourself. It got better but not that much. You learn to live with it.”

Things started to change for Schroder as he entered his teenage years. Basketball seemed to gain him a newfound acceptance by his peers. “I went to a basketball school and people started respecting and accepting me as a black person because I did something for Germany and for my hometown.”

Despite the racism Schroder faced, he was all in on rooting for the country he grew up in with regard to international basketball competition. “I still remember sitting in front of the television in 2008 and watching Dirk Nowitzki carry the German flag in Beijing. Even then, I found it incredibly touching and thought to myself: This is the highest level of appreciation an athlete can receive,” as told to Indo-Asian News.

As it turned out, Schroder was selected as the flagbearer for Germany during the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

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He told GiveMeSport, “That was my goal to set a big statement, an important statement in Germany, to show all those black, light skin, whatever color… that you guys can do something with a lot of hard work and passion. And that was a big statement that we set in Germany that a black guy carried that flag.”

While comparing racism in the United States to racism in Germany, Schroder told the Los Angeles Times, “In Germany, whenever you get pulled over you ain’t gotta be worried about anything. Of course they’re going to check you or whatever, but that’s everywhere. Here (in the U.S) when you get pulled over you gotta be really smart with your words so that nothing happens to you.”

Schroder averaged 17.2 points and 7.5 assists during the 2024 Olympics, which made him one of the most impressive players in the tournament. Sports Illustrated pointed out that he outplayed a number of bigger-name point guards, proving that he’s a big game player.

Schroder has bounced around the NBA, playing for seven teams in his first eleven seasons. He enters the 2024-2025 campaign for the Brooklyn Nets as one of their veteran leaders.

Early in his NBA career, former Atlanta Hawks Mike Budenholzer told Bleacher Report about Schroder, “He’s a very competitive, edgy kid, which works both ways. But if you’re going to bet, he’s the kind of kid you bet on.”

Schroder told Spiegel Sport, “I am attacked because I am black, my wife Ellen because she is with a black man.”

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Schroder shared with Andscape, “Everything I went through, of course, it makes me so mentally tough. I would probably tell him that it don’t matter what anybody says, it don’t matter if it’s the teacher, it don’t matter if it’s your coach, you got to see the vision. You got to, of course, stay humble, listen to your family.”