Βy Stelios Toromanidis/ info@eurohoops.net
The quality American guard will try his luck in Europe’s top club competition for the second time after his admittedly successful stint in the colors of Baskonia in the 2016-2017 season.
His return to the Old Continent is a positive development for the competition’s prestige and Eurohoops looks back on the 25-year-old player’s career so far.
From baseball to basketball
Shane is the scion of a sporting family, with his father, Barry Larkin, being a Hall of Famer with the Cincinnati Reds in baseball, which, incidentally, is more popular than basketball in the USA.
This is the reason Efes’s new acquisition initially tried to play baseball. Despite that, his progress was not impressive and so he turned to basketball, where his talent was apparent from the beginning.
His accomplishments in Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando (18.8 points, 6.3 assists, 6.4 rebounds and 3.5 steals on average in his last season) did not go unnoticed by experts on the other side of the Atlantic and, as a result, he was included in the most talented point guards of his age and ended up playing with the Miami Hurricanes.
His college years, the high selection in the draft and the injury that kept him back
Larkin’s very good performance was continued in the two seasons he played in college (2011-2013). After a few months of adjustment, he became a key member of his team, helping them have two successful seasons.
In fact, in 2012-2013 the Hurricanes finished in the top spot of their conference and reached the Sweet Sixteen in March Madness, where they lost 71-61 to Marquette. Throughout their course, the small (1.80m) guard was catalytic and almost irreplaceable in the line-up, which made him register for the Draft of 2013.
There, he was selected with a very high pick – the 18th pick, actually – by the Atlanta Hawks and was traded to Dirk Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks. Despite that, he was unfortunate as he broke his ankle during a Summer League practice and was out of action for four months. As a result, he made his debut in the NBA in November 2013.
His first season in the magical world did not go as planned. Aside from his 48 appearances with the Mavericks, he often played in the NBA Development League and the Texas Legends.