By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Michael Rataj is living the dream.
At four years old, he’d slide his various belongings off the desk and make his way to the basketball court to play “all day long.” School was over; his real life was just beginning.
At eight years old, Rataj’s club coach swallowed his pride and told him to try out for a better team. He saw sky-high potential in the young athlete from Augsburg, Germany — and he was right. Rataj had earned the interest of German national team scouts by age 12 and joined at 14. He was playing on a professional team three years later.
Now, the 6-foot-8 senior is a 1,000-point scorer in Division I college basketball, starting for a top-10 offense in America.
“The Michael Rataj story is just a kid growing up in Augsburg, loving basketball and then living his college basketball dream in the United States right now,” Rataj said.
Not everyone in Germany prefers the blacktop to the soccer pitch, but for those who do, the past few years have been an exhilarating ride. Basketball has rapidly climbed the popularity ladder amid unprecedented success on the international stage. The nation won the FIBA World Cup in 2023, EuroBasket in 2025 and finished fourth in the 2024 Olympics. Once an afterthought, basketball now ranks second to soccer in the hearts of many Germans.
Much of that popular growth can be traced to two generational talents who transcended the national basketball scene to compete on the global stage. Legendary power forward Dirk Nowitzki was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame after winning an MVP award and an NBA title with the Dallas Mavericks. He could be joined in the Hall someday by Dennis Schröder, a dynamic point guard who has carried the flag (sometimes literally) for Germany’s recent success in international play.
With Nowitzki long retired and Schröder in his 30s, a new generation is emerging. Franz Wagner is likely to be named an NBA All-Star this year; Isaiah Hartenstein just won a championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Michael Rataj wants to be next up.
“I mean, everybody who plays basketball so much wants to make the NBA, right?” Rataj said. “That’s my goal, and it’s always going to be my goal. So, that’s my goal, yeah. And that’s what I’m going to do, and that’s where I will be at some point in my life.”
Rataj was named First Team All-West Coast Conference in 2024-25 after leading Oregon State in points, rebounds, steals and blocks. He’s averaging 10.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 blocks for the Bears this season and is coming off a season-best performance (18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals) in a 110-88 win over Sacramento State on Tuesday.
Rataj is listed as a guard on the official roster but has been the Bears’ de facto center in the absence of junior Juslin Bodo Bodo, who remains out with an arm injury.
Tuesday’s game represented a milestone for the wing-turned-center: shooting over 40% from the field for a second consecutive game, a first this season. Rataj has struggled to make shots in his new role after converting at a 48.4/35.1/78.8 clip for Oregon State last season.
“It feels good,” said Rataj, whose field-goal percentage has improved nearly 10 points over the past two games. “It feels like I’m getting my rhythm slowly here.”
Today, Rataj is calm and collected. He speaks softly and with self-assured humility. But two years ago, due to forces outside his control, his career nearly ran off the tracks.
During the German national team’s 2023 summer circuit, Rataj began experiencing major pain in his left shin. Jumping made him wince. He brushed it off as shin splints until a CT scan revealed a benign tumor “right in my bones.”
The tumor wasn’t life-threatening, yet the pain continued. Rataj opted for surgery rather than playing through it. Despite following medical timetables and completing injury rehab, it quickly became evident that he’d returned too soon, causing multiple stress fractures to his shin.
“I had to play through a lot of pain that whole sophomore year, but then after that year I took a lot of time off,” said Rataj. “I did a lot of rehab and a lot of treatment, and finally, at the beginning of my junior year, toward the end of that summer, my shin was completely healed. So that was good.”
After that season, the Beavers’ third sub-.500 year in a row, most of Rataj’s recruiting class left the program. While he considered his options, head coach Wayne Tinkle came to him with an offer.
“He kind of gave me the option, and said if I work hard enough, I can have the keys to the team,” Rataj said. “So, I really worked my tail off that summer, and then also proved during the season that I can be a really good player, a key player for the team.”
Rataj wasted no time putting those keys in the ignition, more than doubling his scoring output on increased efficiency across the board. His field goal percentage jumped from 44.3% to 48.4%; his 3-point percentage jumped from 28.8% to 35.1%; his free-throw percentage jumped from 73.8% to 78.8%. He led Oregon State to a 20-13 record as the only First Team All-Conference honoree, once pouring in 29 points in an upset win over Gonzaga in overtime.
In November, Rataj reached 1,000 career points in a win over Tarleton State.
“Excited for him, that thousand’s a big deal,” head coach Scott Drew said after the game. “He’s somebody that got better later in his sophomore, junior, senior year, which, credit to him. Today he did a good job … and he really battled well and handled the ball for us and handled some of the pressure.”
When Rataj first committed to the Bears in March, there was no way of knowing exactly what role he’d be asked to fill. He’s stepped up anyway, averaging a team-high 4.0 offensive rebounds per game and cutting a third of his shot diet. Despite the change in usage, his eyes remain laser-focused on making the big leagues.
“Pretty confident in myself and my abilities, so I know where it’s going to take me,” Rataj told The Lariat before the season. “I put a lot of work and effort into this, and a lot of sacrifice. … I know what I want, and I know how to get there.”
