Former Boston Celtics point guard Shane Larkin hasn’t exactly been a layabout since leaving the team last summer. Particularly yesterday, when he scored a career-high 38 points to lead Anadolu Efes to an 89-74 win over Fenerbahce Beko for the Turkish League championship.
Larkin, who signed with the Anadolu after leaving Boston’s 2017-18 “Hospital Celtics” with a shoulder injury sustained in Game 4 of the 2018 Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Philadelphia 76ers, logged the second-best performance ever in the Turkish League. In fact, he fell just short of besting the Turkish League’s all-time game-high 40-point performance by David Rivers in 2000.
The former University of Miami star was very efficient in his milestone night, shooting 11-18 from the field, scoring 20 points in the first half alone and tallying three boards and four dimes on his way to being named the Most Valued Player of the Turkish League Finals.
The Turkish league, consistently ranked among the world’s top-five leagues outside the NBA, has proven an increasingly helpful option for players seeking to make their way into — or in Larkin’s case, back to — the NBA. With an opt-out clause that would allow him to do so should a team come calling, such a performance might just have been enough to do the trick.
Boston, who still control his rights as an NBA player, could potentially be a logical landing place in the wake of impending free agent Kyrie Irving’s exit should no bigger-name free agent be available in the first week or so of NBA summer free agency. However, the opt-out clause expires at the end of the second week of July; should the Celts be up for a reunion with Larkin, they’ll have to move before then.
At 26-years-old, he fits the age curve of the youth movement, knows the system and many of the remaining players, and could likely be had for a portion the mid-level exception. Although the team selected multiple guards in the 2019 NBA Draft, neither are a lock to make the team and only one (if either) is likely to see significant time in regular season games.
That leaves Larkin an intriguing option should the team prefer to spend at other positions.
