Crailsheim Merlins

The club was founded on 31 January 1986 by a group of students. Until 1994, the team was only active at the lower local leagues and had problems in finding a hall to play at. A year later, the club found a new home in the barracks of departed American armed forces. In 2001, the Merlins managed to promote to the German second division, now the ProA, for the first time. A new home arena was found again, in the form of a renovated market hall.

In the 2013–14 season Merlins promoted to the Basketball Bundesliga, by reaching the ProA Finals.^[1] The club managed to avoid relegation in its first season in the league, because Artland Dragons was relegated the club received a wild card. However, in the following 2015–16 season the team was relegated once again after finishing last. In the 2020–21 season, coach Tuomas Iisalo guided the Merlins to their first Bundesliga playoff appearance in club history.^[2] Iisalo left Crailsheim at the conclusion of the 2020–21 campaign, Sebastian Gleim was named the new head coach.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2021–22 season, Crailsheim made its European debut as it was placed in the regular season of the FIBA Europe Cup. On 13 October 2021, the Merlins recorded an away win over Bakken Bears in their debut.^[3] The same season, the Merlins also reached the final of the 2021–22 BBL-Pokal, its first final appearance in the national cup. The Merlins eventually lost to 86–78 to ALBA Berlin.^[4]

Due to sponsorship reasons the team has been known as:

• Proveo Merlins: 2007–2009
• Hakro Merlins Crailsheim: 2018–present

BBL-Pokal

• Runners-up: 2021–22

ProB

• Winners: 2008–09

Current roster

Crailsheim Merlins roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SF 1 Cook, Keandre 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 26 – (1997-05-01)1 May 1997 SG 3 Stuckey, Maurice 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 33 – (1990-05-30)30 May 1990 SG 4 Baggette, Elias 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 70 kg (154 lb) 21 – (2002-04-28)28 April 2002 SF 6 Wulff, Luis 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 20 – (2004-03-14)14 March 2004 C 8 Oduro, Prince 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 113 kg (249 lb) 25 – (1998-10-27)27 October 1998 SF 9 Bleck, Fabian 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 31 – (1993-03-19)19 March 1993 PG 11 Kindzeka, René 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 76 kg (168 lb) 28 – (1995-06-05)5 June 1995 SF 12 Murry-Boyles, James 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 26 – (1997-09-01)1 September 1997 PG 19 Westermann, Leo 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 89 kg (196 lb) 31 – (1992-07-24)24 July 1992 C 21 Žejdl, Matěj 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 21 – (2003-03-30)30 March 2003 C 30 Smith, Galin 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 107 kg (236 lb) 25 – (1998-12-29)29 December 1998 PF 10 Darden, Tremmell 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 42 – (1981-11-17)17 November 1981	Head coach Jussi Laakso Assistant coach(es) Daniel Herbert Athletic trainer(s) Marcus Linder Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: January 12, 2024

Notable players

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crailsheim Merlins.

• Official website
• Team profile at Eurobasket.com