| Telekom Baskets Bonn | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Leagues | Basketball Bundesliga | ||
| Founded | 1992; 33 years ago (1992) | ||
| History | BG Bonn 92 (1992–1995) Telekom Baskets Bonn (1995–present) | ||
| Arena | Telekom Dome | ||
| Capacity | 6,000 | ||
| Location | Bonn,Germany | ||
| Team colors | Magenta,White, andBlack | ||
| President | Wolfgang Wiedlich | ||
| Head coach | Marko Stankovic | ||
| Championships | 1Champions League | ||
| Website | telekom-baskets-bonn.de | ||
Telekom Baskets Bonn is a German professionalbasketball club that is based inBonn,Germany. The club plays in theBasketball Bundesliga, which isthe highest level pro basketball league in Germany. The club's sponsor is the German company,Deutsche Telekom, a major telephone and internet company, which also sells mobile phones (T-Mobile) in the United States. The club's home arena is theTelekom Dome.
In2023, the Baskets won theBasketball Champions League, Europe's most prestigiousFIBA competition. Bonn became the first German team to win it. It was the first title in club history.
The Baskets reached the German League Final Four nine times in 17 years of league affiliation. Bonn reached the national league's finals six times, in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2008, 2009, and 2023 albeit coming up short on each occasion.
The Telekom Baskets Bonn was founded in 1992 when the German clubsGodesberger Turnverein 1888 eV (Godesberg Gymnastics Club) andSC Fortuna Bonn merged. The basketball team of the Godesberger TV had been founded in 1970, whereas the SC Fortuna Bonn had been founded in 1973. The Godesberger TV was promoted to theBasketball Bundesliga in 1990. A year later, the club was relegated, and the associated economic problems eventually lead to the 1992 merger of the departments of the two basketball teams toBG Bonn 92. The following year, the club switched names toPost SV Bonn. In 1995, the club switched names again toTelekom Baskets Bonn, sponsored by the German telecommunications companyDeutsche Telekom.
In April 1995, the Telekom Baskets Bonn declared their goal to be promoted to theBundesliga in 1997. But already in the 1995–96 season the team finished thesecond division unbeaten and moved up to Germany's prime basketball league. There, the Baskets managed to establish themselves immediately, supported by an ecstatic home crowd at the newly builtHardtberghalle of the Hardtberg School Center. In their first season the Baskets succeeded to the finals of the German Championship. There, they lost 1:3 againstAlba Berlin. In the following years they always reached the playoffs until the 2004–05 season. In 2005, the Baskets finished the regular season at the No. 9 position. Then coachPredrag Krunić was relieved of his duties. In December 2005,Michael Koch the former national team captain became the team's new head coach. Previously, for a few months Bonn was coached by theCroatDanijel Jusup.
From 1998 to 2002, the Baskets had a cooperation agreement with theSG Sechtem. This cooperation ended in 2002 due to a new strategic orientation of both clubs.
In 2008, the Baskets moved from its previous venue, theHardtberghalle, to the newly builtTelekom Dome. Thus, the Telekom Baskets became Germany's first basketball club to build its own arena with adjoining training center.
The Baskets then intensified the training of their own youth players and in the 2006–07 season started a cooperation with former rivalDragons Rhöndorf. Under the name SG Bonn / Rhöndorf the club sent various youth teams to Germany's prime youth divisions. The club's aim was to increase the number of their own players to jump into the squad of the 1st team. The club's first success stories are bothFabian Thülig andJonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann. Under coachMike Koch the Baskets succeeded to the finals of theNational Basketball League both in 2007–08, as well as in 2008–09. There, the Baskets finished runner-up toAlba Berlin and theEWE Baskets Oldenburg. The season 2010–11, however, was the weakest since the rise of the Telekom Baskets to Germany's first division. With only 14 wins and 20 defeats, the Baskets finished the season ranked 13th and missed the play-offs for only the second time in their club history.
For the 2011–12 seasonMike Koch remainedhead coach of the Telekom Baskets and built a new squad. New additions such asBenas Veikalas,Tony Gaffney,Talor Battle,Daniel Hain andAndrej Mangold and most notably former playerJared Jordan joined the team. Together they led the team through a regular season full of ups and downs. At the end they finished at the 8th spot with 18 wins and 16 defeats. In the quarter-finals of the playoffs, the Baskets were subject to a 1:3 result as they were beaten in 4 matches by defending championsBrose Baskets Bamberg. The Baskets Bonn also reached the Cup final where they were also beaten by Bamberg at Bonn's own court.
2012–13, the Baskets qualified for the play-offs again. Overall, the team finished the season ranked 7th in the regular season. A few months into the season the team was supplemented by forwardJamel McLean, who replacedPatrick Ewing Jr. In the quarterfinals, the Baskets met theEWE Baskets Oldenburg. There, the Baskets Bonn were eliminated with 2:3 victories after 5 games. After the season, the contract of coachMichael Koch was not extended, thus the Koch era ended after eight years as head coach of the team. When he left the club, he had been the longest serving head coach of the league.
In May 2013, as the successor to Michael Koch, the Telekom Baskets Bonn presentedMathias Fischer as the new head coach. Fischer had worked for theLTi Giessen 46ers before and had been responsible for several youth programs and national selections ofGermany. Under his leadership, especially the youth development should expand and receive new impetus to the cooperation with the Dragons Rhöndorf. In addition to Fischer, the Baskets presentedMichael Wichterich as new full-time sports manager. Wichterich is a former player of the Baskets and theDragons Rhöndorf. He had previously worked for the Dragons where he was in a similar position asArvid Kramer in 2004. Wichterich is only the second full-time manager of the club. The previous manager Andreas Boettcher is still involved in management.
After two seasons at the helm that included solid regular season results and first round exits in the playoffs, Bonn got off to a 6–1 start in 2015–16 before breaking down in a major way. The Baskets finished with a 12–22 record that included a string of 14 consecutive losses in BBL andFIBA EuroCup, culminating in Fischer's dismissal. He was replaced by interim coachCarsten Pohl and later succeeded bySilvano Poropat. Following the conclusion of the regular season, the management also decided to part ways withpoint guardAndrej Mangold who had been with Bonn for five years.
After Poropat left the team in September 2016 due to an undisclosed illness, former coach Predrag Krunić returned to Bonn for a second coaching stint.[1] Major additions for the 2016–17 season included former Bamberg playerRyan Thompson, point guard Josh Mayo, andcenterJulian Gamble.In the 2016/2017 season, the Baskets bounced back by reaching a playoff-spot and finished the regular season on the seventh place with an 18–14 record. In the playoffs, Bonn managed to win the first game of the quarterfinals against the defending champs Brose Bamberg, but ended up losing the series 1:3.
The following 2017/2018 season, Bonn nearly could gain home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but just came up short in this race despite finishing on a good fifth place with a 21–13 record. In the quarterfinals, the Baskets played against Brose Bamberg again but could not get a win this time by losing the quarterfinal series 0:3.
After winning the first three games in the 2018/2019 season, the Baskets lost eight out of the next ten regular season games. In January 2019 former assistant coach Chris O’Shea became head coach right before the German cup semifinals, which Bonn lost 87:90 against Brose Bamberg who ended up winning the cup. Bonn won eight out of the next eleven games and finished the regular season with an impressive 102:98 home win against Bayern Munich, who won the German league title in the last two years. In the playoffs, Bonn had to play EWE Baskets Oldenburg and lost the series 0:3.
In February 2020, after 17 match days, the club announced the hiring ofWill Voigt as head coach of the team[1], who previously coached Angola's national team. He is the successor ofThomas Päch, who was assigned as head coach in summer2019. The results of the regular Basketball Bundesliga season (BBL) did not meet overall's expectations, whereas in theBasketball Champions League, Telekom Baskets Bonn have reached the round of the last 16 remaining teams and compete againstAEK Athens in the first round of the Play-offs. Voigt ended his first Bonn stint at the conclusion of the 2019–20 season, but was hired again in January 2021, when Bonn firedIgor Jovović.[2] Voigt parted ways with Bonn after the 2020–21 season,Tuomas Iisalo was appointed the new head coach in May 2021.[3]
The Iisalo brothers,Tuomas (head coach) andJoonas (associate head coach), took Bonn from a medium power to second place in the2021–22 Basketball Bundesliga and qualified for the Bundesliga playoff semifinals. Point guardParker Jackson-Cartwright was namedBBL MVP. The Iisalos' tactics were known for a lot of passing.In 2022, Joonas left Bonn to become head coach atMLP Academics Heidelberg.[4] Tuomas meanwhile continued as Bonn's head coach.
During the 2022–23 season, Bonn finished as first seed in the2022–23 Basketball Bundesliga after their 32–2 record in the regular season.[5] On 4 May, Bonn's Macedonian-American point guardT. J. Shorts was named theBBL MVP,[6] as well as theBasketball Champions League MVP.[7] On 14 May 2023, Bonn won the2022–23 Basketball Champions League championship, the club's first ever trophy. They defeated Israeli clubHapoel Jerusalem in the final of theFinal Four inMálaga. Shorts was named theFinal Four MVP.[8]
In June 2023, Roel Moors took over as Bonn's new head coach. The unexpected Champions League title had drastically increased the team's marked value which caused the players and coaches to accept higher salaries elsewhere. Bonn went through a complete restructure. Yet, the success of 2023 brought in price money which the Baskets used to hire new, internationally competitive players.
On January 21, 2025, Telekom Baskets Bonn announced that Roel Moors had been placed on leave, with Marko Stankovic taking over the head coaching responsibilities. Stankovic, who has been an assistant coach at Telekom Baskets Bonn since June 2022 and helped secure the team's Basketball Champions League title in May 2023, has been promoted to head coach.[9]
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility atFIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
| 2024–25 Telekom Baskets Bonn roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Updated: October 18, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | |||||
| PF | |||||
| SF | |||||
| SG | |||||
| PG |
John Ecker: (1993–1995)
Bruno Socé: (1995–2001)
Predrag Krunić: (2001–2005)Danijel Jusup: (2005)
Michael Koch: (2005–2013)Mathias Fischer: (2013–2015)Carsten Pohl: (2015–2016)Silvano Poropat: (2016) Predrag Krunić: (2016–2019)
Chris O'Shea: (2019)Thomas Päch: (2019–2020)Will Voigt: (2020)
Igor Jovović: (2020–2021) Will Voigt: (2021)
Tuomas Iisalo: (2021–2023) (Champions League winner 2023)
Roel Moors: (2023–2025)
Marko Stankovic: (2025–present)– Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
– Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.
Hurl Beechum4 seasons: '98–'02Gunther Behnke4 seasons: '96–'00Steven Hutchinson2 seasons: '97–'99Alex King3 seasons: '08–'11Leon Kratzer3 seasons: '20–'23Konstantin Klein2 seasons: '16–'18Dirk Mädrich2 seasons: '14–'16Andrej Mangold5 seasons: '11–'16Aleksandar Nadjfeji4 seasons: '01–'05Tim Ohlbrecht2 seasons: '09–'11Klaus Perwas4 seasons: '95–'99Karsten Tadda2 seasons: '21–23
Yorman Polas Bartolo4 seasons: '16–'20Siniša Kelečević4 seasons: '96–'98, '00–'01, '05–'06
Tadas Klimavicius2 seasons: '14–'16Benas Veikalas4 seasons: '11–'15Jason Conley3 seasons: '05–'08Chris Ensminger4 seasons: '09–'13Tony Gaffney2 seasons: '11–'12, '13–'14Julian Gamble2 seasons: '16–'18Jared Jordan4 seasons: '09–'10, '11–'14Arvid Kramer10 seasons: '87–'97Eugene Lawrence4 seasons: '14–'16, '20Jamel McLean2 seasons: '13–'14Jeremy Morgan2 seasons: '21–'23Derrick Phelps2 seasons: '98–'00Terrence Rencher2 seasons: '01–'03Tyson Ward2 seasons: '21–'23T. J. Shorts.2 seasons: '21–'23Through building theTelekom Dome, the Baskets have further professionalized and intensified their youth work and, together with the cooperation partnerDragons Rhöndorf, offer a consistent system for young players for personal and sporting development. This includes a wide range of teams which practice and compete in theTelekom Dome. Several players, such asFabian Thülig,Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann andFlorian Koch are examples of players from the Baskets youth who became starters in at least severalBasketball Bundesliga games. Previously, all three played for theDragons Rhöndorf in thePro A, andPro B.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Telekom Baskets Bonn | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Arenas |
|
| Miscellaneous | |
| Seasons | |
