By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes star guard Shane Larkin isn’t planning to return to the NBA unless a team guarantees him a satisfactory role and a part that won’t confine him to the bench.
“I will not go back to the NBA as a third point guard,” Larkin said to Fansided while adding that he won’t even discuss this kind of possibility. “So, if any team asks about that, we’re not even gonna answer the phone.”
In his previous stint in the NBA in 2017-2018, Larkin averaged 14.4 minutes per game in 54 regular-season appearances with the Boston Celtics plus 14.0 minutes in 11 matches in the playoffs. It’s clear that he wants something more significant in order to consider going back to the league and leave Europe.
In an interview with Eurohoops back in November, Larkin emphasized how important it is to him to have a major responsibility on a team and said that the reason he didn’t return to the NBA in 2019 was the lack of such an option among a number of opportunities. The American guard signed a 1+1 contract with Efes through 2021, NBA out included.
Larkin was having an MVP-caliber run in EuroLeague before the season shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 12. He was averaging competition-highs 22.2 points and 25.8 PIR, along with 4.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 29:56 minutes while Efes was at the top of the standings.
Among Larkin’s accomplishments in 2019-2020 was breaking EuroLeague’s single-game scoring mark, becoming the first player this century in the competition to score 40+ points in multiple games plus setting a new record for winning consecutive weekly MVPs by earning the award four rounds in a row.