The German basketball players have successfully started their preparations for the European Championship.

The team led by NBA professional Dennis Schröder won its first test game this summer in Belgium on Wednesday evening with 87:83 (46:50) and also put up with the failure of NBA professional Moritz Wagner.

As the German Basketball Association (DBB) announced shortly before the game, the 25-year-old Orlando Magic professional can no longer be used this summer due to an ankle injury.

"I'll tell you how it is.

It hurts," Wagner said in a statement from the association: "I've been looking forward to this tournament and this opportunity for years: to play in Germany, in Cologne and my city of Berlin, with my brother, at a home European championship something I had been dreaming of for a while now.”

Moritz Wagner is now absent from the European Championships with games in Cologne and Berlin (September 1 to 18), just like the other NBA professionals Isaac Bonga, Maximilian Kleber and Isaiah Hartenstein.

Bonga recently underwent surgery, both Kleber and Hartenstein opted out.

"It's a hard blow for us and especially for Moritz himself," said national coach Gordon Herbert.

The second test for the team in the Netherlands is scheduled for Friday.

"We're not at 100 percent yet, that's for sure.

In the end it was important that we started with a win,” said Schröder, who scored 21 points.

Germany off to a strong start

In Schröder, Daniel Theis and Franz Wagner, however, three players from the NBA are still available.

And above all, the 20-year-old Franz Wagner showed what quality he has in the midsummer temperatures in the Sporthal Alverberg.

While his brother, who was five years his senior, followed the game from the stands with a thick splint on his foot, Franz Wagner came up trumps and was the best German thrower with 23 points.

The Orlando Magic high-flyer needed just 24 seconds for his first two points on his international debut.

In general, the German team got off to a strong start and in the first quarter temporarily pulled away to 16 points (27:11).

But when Herbert gradually took his starting five with Schröder, Andres Obst, Wagner, Robin Benzing and Theis off the floor, there was a break in the German game.

Also because Herbert rested three players in Maodo Lo, Johannes Thiemann and Johannes Voigtmann who will definitely be there at the European Championship.

In addition, Nick Weiler-Babb, who was only naturalized last week, was absent for private reasons.

The Bayern professional is due to join the team for the Supercup in Hamburg next week.

The hosts gradually fought back and even took the lead towards the end of the second quarter.

At the break, Germany was four points behind (46:50).

In the second half, the DBB selection still had room for improvement, but now acted more concentrated and still secured victory in the final quarter.

Also because Theis, who had not done much before, flashed his class with a few crashing dunks.