When former Boston Celtics backup point guard Shane Larkin became a free agent after his stint with the Celtics, he drew a line in the sand that ended up ringing his time in the NBA to a close — and he could not be happier about how things played out. Rejecting even the possibility of a gig in the Association as a third guard, the Cincinnati, Ohio native found no ball clubs interested in rolling the dice on Larkin with a larger role than he had with Boston, but Anadolu Efes, a Turkish team playing in the Turkish Super League and the EuroLeague, took a chance on him.

Since then, Larkin has become a superstar in Europe, winning two EuroLeague and three Turkish Super League titles with Anadolu Efes while making multiple All-EuroLeague teams and taking the 2020 EuroLeague scoring title among many other honors. The former Boston floor general recently took some time to sit down with HoopsHype’s Cyro Asseo to talk about his leap from the NBA to across the pond among several topics in a wide-ranging interview, and it was evident that the Miami alum had no regrets whatever about leaving the Association for the EuroLeague.

“I was lucky enough to accomplish my goal at 20 years old, get drafted 18th overall, break my ankle a week after the draft, and then hopped around,” said Larkin. “And then there was an opportunity where it was like, OK, take a non-guaranteed deal in the NBA and continue to fight for that or go overseas and play 30 minutes a night and see what that looks like.”

“Thankfully, I had an open mindset where I didn’t want to do that third point guard kind of non-guaranteed deal, wait for somebody to get injured,” he added. “It’s like you’re waiting for somebody’s downfall for you to take advantage of it. And that just didn’t feel right to me. I felt like if I wanted to get that opportunity, it was because I deserved it because of my play, not because of somebody’s injuries.”

“(…) I had a few incredible seasons over here, and I had opportunities to go back to the league, and I was like, ‘Nah I’m cool, like I’m good where I am’… and when people hear that, they don’t understand what it is like to be one of the better star players in Europe.”

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