Daniel Theis (born 4 April 1992) is a German professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After seven seasons in the Basketball Bundesliga where he was a four-time All Star and three-time champion, Theis signed with the Boston Celtics of the NBA where he played for four seasons before a trade brought him to the Chicago Bulls in March 2021. The Bulls traded Theis to the Houston Rockets in August 2021, who in turn traded Theis back to the Celtics in February 2022, before being traded to the Pacers in July 2022. With the Celtics, he reached the NBA Finals during his second stint with the team.
Born in Salzgitter, Theis went through the Braunschweig youth system.
Theis made his debut in the German top-tier level league, the Basketball Bundesliga, during the 2010–11 season. Theis primarily gained playing time with Braunschweig's development squad, where he played alongside his older brother, Frank,[1] from 2010 to 2012. He earned the Eurobasket.com website's All-2.Pro B Most Improved Player of the Year honors in 2011. In Braunschweig, Theis was also a teammate of fellow future NBA player Dennis Schröder.[2]
In the 2013–14 season, while with Ratiopharm Ulm, Theis won the BBL Best Young Player award.[3]
Following his breakout season with Ulm, Theis signed with fellow German Bundesliga club Brose Bamberg.[4] In the 2014 off-season, he played in the 2014 NBA Summer League for the Washington Wizards' summer league team.
In the 2014–15 season, Theis won his first German League championship with Brose Baskets. Brose beat FC Bayern Munich 3–2 in the German League Finals.[5] In April 2015, he signed a fresh two-year deal with the Bamberg team,[6] and he won two more German championships with Bamberg, in 2016 and 2017.
On 20 July 2017, Theis signed with the Boston Celtics.[7] He made his NBA debut on October 18 against the Milwaukee Bucks.[8] On 12 March 2018, Theis suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee,[9] and missed the remainder of the 2017–18 season after Theis repaired his left knee lateral meniscus in a surgery.[10]
On 29 October 2018, Theis was found to have a slight tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot and was scheduled to be out indefinitely, but he returned shortly after the injury on 11 November vs. the Portland Trail Blazers.[11][12]
On 17 July 2019, the Boston Celtics announced that they had re-signed Theis, along with former Brose Bamberg teammate Brad Wanamaker.[13] The contract was reported to be worth $10 million in total for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.[14]
Theis started 64 games at center for the Celtics during the 2019-20 season. thirds through the season, on 21 February 2020, Theis had a career-high 25 points and 16 rebounds in a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.[15] Celtics coach Brad Stevens said that Theis complemented the rest of the starters, playing in a way that "fits the other guys perfect."[16]
On 25 March 2021, Theis was traded to the Chicago Bulls in a three-team trade involving the Washington Wizards.[17] By 12 April, he had worked his way into the starting lineup against the Memphis Grizzlies.[18] On 26 April Theis scored 23 points and had 12 rebounds and 5 assists in a 110–102 victory against the Miami Heat.[19]
On 7 August 2021, Theis was traded to the Houston Rockets via a sign-and-trade deal.[20]
On 10 February 2022, the Boston Celtics re-acquired Theis from the Rockets in exchange for Bruno Fernando, Enes Freedom, and Dennis Schröder.[21] Theis and the Celtics reached the NBA Finals, but lost to the Golden State Warriors in 6 games.
On 9 July 2022, Theis was traded, alongside Nik Stauskas, Aaron Nesmith, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan and a 2023 first-round pick, to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon.[22] On 2 February 2023, after missing over 50 games due to knee surgery, Theis made his Pacers debut against the Los Angeles Lakers.[23] On 13 February, against the Utah Jazz, Theis recorded a season–high 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists as the Pacers starting center.[24] Theis spent his first season in Indiana as a mentor and backup to Myles Turner, Jalen Smith, and Isaiah Jackson before falling out of the Pacers rotation.[25]
On 15 November 2023, Theis reached a buyout agreement with Indiana after seeing minimal action to start the 2023–24 Pacers season.[26]
On 17 November 2023, Theis signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.[27]
Theis was a member of the junior national teams of Germany. With the Germany U20 national team, he played at the 2011 FIBA U20 European Championship, and the 2012 FIBA U20 European Championship.[28][29]
On 27 July 2014, Theis made his first appearance with the senior Germany national team in a game against Finland.[30] With Germany's senior team, he played in the EuroBasket 2015 qualification tournament.[31] Two years later, Theis was selected to represent Germany at the EuroBasket 2017, where he averaged 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game during the competition.[32]
At the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Theis finished the event with averages of 7.6 points and 6 rebounds per game.[33] Heading toward EuroBasket 2022, Theis helped Germany win bronze during the tournament, finishing with 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.[34]
The following year, Theis played a pivotal role in helping Germany capture their first world title at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He attained averages of 10.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.[35]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | PIR | Performance Index Rating |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Boston | 63 | 3 | 14.9 | .541 | .310 | .753 | 4.3 | .9 | .5 | .8 | 5.3 |
| 2018–19 | Boston | 66 | 2 | 13.8 | .549 | .388 | .737 | 3.4 | 1.0 | .3 | .6 | 5.7 |
| 2019–20 | Boston | 65 | 64 | 24.1 | .566 | .333 | .763 | 6.6 | 1.7 | .6 | 1.3 | 9.2 |
| 2020–21 | Boston | 42 | 37 | 24.5 | .552 | .347 | .687 | 5.2 | 1.6 | .6 | 1.0 | 9.5 |
| 2020–21 | Chicago | 23 | 14 | 25.0 | .522 | .281 | .651 | 5.9 | 1.8 | .7 | .6 | 10.0 |
| 2021–22 | Houston | 26 | 21 | 22.5 | .469 | .291 | .675 | 5.0 | .8 | .4 | .7 | 8.4 |
| 2021–22 | Boston | 21 | 6 | 18.7 | .598 | .357 | .688 | 4.7 | 1.0 | .4 | .7 | 7.9 |
| 2022–23 | Indiana | 7 | 1 | 15.6 | .477 | .182 | .417 | 3.1 | 1.3 | .3 | .9 | 7.0 |
| 2023–24 | Indiana | 1 | 0 | 8.0 | .250 | .000 | – | .0 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 2.0 |
| Career | 314 | 148 | 19.4 | .542 | .325 | .714 | 4.9 | 1.3 | .5 | .9 | 7.5 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Boston | 7 | 0 | 6.0 | .357 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.4 | .0 | .1 | .1 | 1.7 |
| 2020 | Boston | 17 | 17 | 28.4 | .521 | .154 | .788 | 7.1 | 1.5 | .4 | 1.2 | 8.9 |
| 2022 | Boston | 16 | 5 | 12.5 | .588 | .214 | .750 | 3.3 | .7 | .3 | .5 | 4.3 |
| Career | 40 | 22 | 18.1 | .527 | .167 | .791 | 4.6 | .9 | .3 | .8 | 5.8 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Brose Bamberg | 24 | 1 | 19.6 | .536 | .389 | .764 | 4.4 | .5 | .5 | .6 | 9.2 | 9.4 |
| 2016–17 | Brose Bamberg | 30 | 1 | 19.7 | .598 | .410 | .709 | 4.6 | .7 | .7 | .9 | 9.6 | 10.7 |
| Career | 54 | 2 | 19.7 | .571 | .400 | .736 | 4.5 | .6 | .6 | .8 | 9.4 | 10.1 | |
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