The two-time EuroLeague champion looks through some of the key photos in his career to date.
Shane Larkin career album: ‘Another day that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life’
For modern-day fans of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes Istanbul is among the best players to have stepped foot in the competition. After playing an important role in Efes’s back-to-back EuroLeague-winning seasons in 2020-21 and 2021-22, the 31-year-old looks back through some of his most poignant photos to date.
Larkin’s EuroLeague journey began back in the 2016-17 campaign as he wore the jersey of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, and curiously enough his debut came against Efes. That night, October 14, 2016, the American had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in a thrilling 85-84 victory, and it is a game that he remembers well.
“It was a nice introduction into the EuroLeague, for sure,” says Larkin. “I was nervous, I just didn’t know what to expect. You get into a game like this and you start understanding this is a completely different level than I even thought it was. I had an awakening in that game as to what was ahead of me.”
Making history
After spending a season back in the NBA, Larkin returned to the EuroLeague in the 2018-19 campaign by joining Efes. He made an instant impact for the team, but one season later – in 2019-20 – he set the EuroLeague scoring record by netting 49 points in a 104-75 win over FC Bayern Munich on November 29, 2019. It’s a night that he’ll never forget.
“I remember, after making that shot, running back and looking at the team and seeing everybody excited and celebrating,” he explains. “That was a highlight of my career, an individualized moment. Just to see all my teammates happy for me and celebrating as if they were doing it themselves was a very nice moment.”
Going back-to-back
Another season on, Larkin would help inspire Efes to its first-ever EuroLeague title, playing an important role throughout the campaign and also in the postseason. At last, following a couple of years in which Efes was building and building, the Turkish team managed to get over the line.
“There’s so many emotions going through my head. I’m probably at this very moment like, ‘What just happened? Did we actually finally just do it?’” Larkin recalls. “Thinking of all the things that we had been through as a team and myself individually. To finally be there, to finally accomplish the ultimate goal as a team was amazing. I think this picture has all of my emotions wrapped up into one.”
Then, in the 2021-22 campaign, Efes became just the third team this century to secure back-to-back EuroLeauge crowns, with Larkin again playing a vital role. Efes had a tough start to the season but managed to bounce back en route to making history.
“Everybody was saying that we weren’t going to be able to get back to the Final Four, that we were done,” Larkin comments. “For us to persevere through these moments and solidify ourselves as one of the greatest teams in EuroLeague history, I was just looking at them with the second trophy in my hand like, ‘What have they got to say now?’ Another great memory, another great moment, another day that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”