Tibor Pleiß

Tibor Pleiß (, alternative spelling Pleiss; born 2 November 1989) is a German professional basketball player for Rasta Vechta of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). Standing , he plays at the center position. He is also a regular member of the German national team.

Early life, family and education

Pleiß was born in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, near Cologne.

Professional athletic career

Europe

Pleiß played for RheinEnergie Köln (a year later they changed their name to Köln 99ers) of the German Bundesliga as a 17-year-old in 2006. He played with the club for three years, playing in the 2008 EuroCup. After the season ended, he joined the Brose Baskets where he played for three years.

On 24 June 2012, Pleiß left Germany and signed a four-year contract with the Spanish club Saski Baskonia, one of the top teams of the Liga ACB. In the 2013–14 season, he averaged 12.4 points on 58.3 percent shooting and 6.0 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game. He left Baskonia after two years.

On 11 August 2014, he signed a two-year contract with the Spanish club FC Barcelona. In the 2014–15 ACB season, he averaged 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game while shooting 62.3 percent from the floor. In July 2015, he broke the contract with Barcelona, in order to sign in the NBA.

NBA

Pleiß declared for the 2010 NBA draft. He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets, who traded his rights to the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks then sold his rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder. In February 2015, his draft rights were traded to the Utah Jazz as part of a three-team trade.

On 14 July 2015, Pleiß signed a multi-year deal with the Utah Jazz. He made his NBA debut on 30 October in a 99–71 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, recording two points and one rebound in two minutes. On 2 January 2016, in a 92–87 overtime win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Pleiß set career-highs with six points, six rebounds and 17 minutes. During his rookie season, he received multiple assignments to the Idaho Stampede, Utah's D-League affiliate.

On 26 August 2016, Pleiß was traded, along with two 2017 second-round draft picks and cash considerations, to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Kendall Marshall. Five days later, he was waived by the 76ers.

Return to Europe

On 12 September 2016, Pleiß signed with Turkish club Galatasaray for the 2016–17 season. On 28 July 2017 Pleiß signed a two-year deal with the Spanish club Valencia Basket. On 1 August 2018 Pleiß signed a two (1+1) year contract with the Turkish club Anadolu Efes S.K. On 12 July 2020 Pleiß renewed his contract with Efes for another three (2+1) seasons. On June 17, 2024, Pleiß parted ways with the team after six successful years. On August 8, 2024, he signed with Trapani Shark of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A.

On February 26, 2025, Pleiß signed with the defending EuroLeague champions Panathinaikos, reuniting with his Anadolu Efes coach Ergin Ataman. On July 1, 2025, Panathinaikos announced that Pleiß was released from the team.

After 13 seasons with some of Europe’s top clubs and a brief stint in the NBA, he returned home on December 3, 2025 by signing with Rasta Vechta of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).

German national team

Pleiß was a member of the junior national teams of Germany. He played for the German junior national teams at the 2007 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and at both the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B and the 2009 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.

Pleiß is a member of the senior men's German national basketball team. He first played for the senior team at EuroBasket 2009 and saw action in three games. He was also in the German team that participated in the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey, where he was the starting center for Germany. He also played at the EuroBasket 2011 and the EuroBasket 2013.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Utah | 12 || 0 || 6.8 || .440 || .000 || 1.000 || 1.3 || .2 || .1 || .2 || 2.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 12 || 0 || 6.8 || .440 || .000 || 1.000 || 1.3 || .2 || .1 || .2 || 2.0

EuroLeague

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2010–11 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Bamberg | 10 || 10 || 19.1 || .413 || .444 || .789 || 6.3 || .9 || .1 || 1.5 || 6.7 || 8.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2011–12 | 10 || 4 || 18.5 || .500 || .000 || .682 || 5.4 || .4 || .0 || .8 || 6.5 || 8.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2012–13 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Baskonia | 25 || 4 || 14.2 || .607 || .333 || .846 || 3.9 || .2 || .2 || .6 || 5.0 || 6.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2013–14 | 24 || 21 || 21.0 || .557 || .333 || .863 || 5.4 || .5 || .5 || 1.0 || 12.0 || 13.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15 | style="text-align:left;"| Barcelona | 25 || 1 || 13.1 || .584 || .500 || .848 || 3.9 || .2 || .2 || .6 || 5.3 || 6.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2016–17 | style="text-align:left;"| Galatasaray | 28 || 20 || 17.1 || .567 || .400 || .765 || 4.6 || .5 || .2 || 1.2 || 7.7 || 10.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2017–18 | style="text-align:left;"| Valencia | 29 || 14 || 19.3 || .565 || .500 || .797 || 5.2 || .6 || .4 || 1.1 || 10.1 || 12.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2018–19 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="6"| Anadolu Efes | style="background:#CFECEC;"|37* || 5 || 14.2 || .623 || .333 || .878 || 3.7 || .4 || .4 || .5 || 8.1 || 9.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2019–20 | style="background:#CFECEC;"|28* || 22 || 18.8 || .613 || .250 || .926 || 4.3 || .4 || .5 || .5 || 9.5 || 11.3 |- | style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;"| 2020–21†| 24 || 9 || 12.0 || .574 || .412 || .889 || 2.7 || .5 || .2 || .3 || 6.8 || 7.5 |- | style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;"| 2021–22†| style="background:#CFECEC;"|40* || 26 || 18.1 || .569 || .442 || .891 || 4.3 || .6 || .4 || .5 || 9.6 || 11.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2022–23 | 33 || 19 || 15.1 || .535 || .326 || .913 || 2.9 || .5 || .2 || .3 || 6.7 || 6.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2023–24 | 23 || 19 || 18.0 || .486 || .435 || .889 || 3.6 || .7 || .3 || .6 || 7.8 || 8.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 336 || 174 || 16.6 || .564 || .391 || .842 || 4.2 || .5 || .3 || .7 || 8.0 || 9.5

EuroCup

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007–08 | style="text-align:left;"| Köln 99ers | 2 || 0 || 3.5 || || .000 || || || || || || 0.0 || -1.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009–10 | style="text-align:left;"| Bamberg | 12 || 10 || 17.7 || .521 || || .758 || 5.7 || .2 || .3 || .8 || 8.3 || 9.8 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 14 || 10 || 15.6 || .514 || .000 || .758 || 4.9 || .1 || .3 || .7 || 7.1 || 8.1

Domestic leagues