Standing 7-foot-3, Pleiss was playing German first-division ball at 17 and rose through Brose Baskets, Baskonia, and FC Barcelona before cashing in draft rights that dated to 2010 and had passed through three teams. He signed with Utah in July 2015, debuted that October, and spent his single NBA season shuttling between the Jazz and the Idaho Stampede.
Europe welcomed him back. Pleiss played for Galatasaray and Valencia, spent six years with Turkish power Anadolu Efes, and after a stop at Panathinaikos came home to Germany in December 2025 to sign with Rasta Vechta — still a regular for the German national team well into his thirties.
HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah acquired his rights in the February 2015 trade that sent Enes Kanter away, signed him that July, and in August 2016 shipped him to Philadelphia — cap room for a possible Derrick Favors extension and a roster spot for Joel Bolomboy.
No photograph of this signature is online yet.
| SEASON | TEAM | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | UTA | 12 | 6.8 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | .440 | .000 | 1.000 |
| JAZZ TOTAL | 1 SEASON | 12 | 6.8 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | .440 | .000 | 1.000 |
Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗