Bayern sign decorated German champion Johannes Thiemann

A 32-year-old power forward walks away from Japan’s top basketball league to rejoin German competition—why? FC Bayern Munich offered Johannes Thiemann exactly what he wanted: a chance to compete at the highest level, and a reunion with an old friend.

Thiemann has inked a two-year deal with Bayern, plus an option for a third season. Standing 2.06 meters tall and born in Trier on 6 February 1994, he spent the last two seasons with the Gunma Crane Thunders in Japan’s B.League. In his second year there, he put up 11.4 points per game while shooting 44.3 percent from three-point range and grabbing six rebounds, though a concussion sidelined him down the stretch.

Thiemann arrives at Bayern as one of Germany’s most decorated international players. He has earned 110 caps for the German national team, starting in 2016. His medal haul includes a World Cup title in 2023, where he posted 7.0 points and 4.3 rebounds, and a European Championship win in 2025, contributing 6.4 points and 3.7 rebounds. He also claimed bronze at EuroBasket 2022 with eight points, and played for Germany at the Olympics in Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024), finishing fourth both times.

At club level, Thiemann won three German titles with ALBA Berlin in 2020, 2021, and 2022, earning Finals MVP in 2022. He also hoisted the German Cup twice, in 2020 and 2022. His EuroLeague record spans 127 games.

The Bayern move reunites him with co-captain Andreas Obst, and it’s a reunion years in the making. The two came up together in Bamberg and on the club’s development squad from 2011 to 2016, winning the German U19 championship in 2012 and earning promotion to the ProA with Baunach in 2014. Thiemann made his BBL debut for Baunach in October 2013, moved to MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg from 2016 to 2018, and joined ALBA Berlin in 2018.