September 22, 2019 – Shane Larkin, who you might know better as the best basketball player in the Turkish Euroleague, is open to joining the Croatia national team.
Gol.hr reports that Shane Larkin is a member of Turkish club Anadolu Efes and is considered the best Euroleague basketball player. This diminutive (standing at only 180 centimeters) but lightning-fast and dangerous point guard has four NBA seasons behind him, but has become a much bigger star in Europe.
Larkin is currently with Efes at the Zadar Basketball Tournament, where he revealed that he would not mind playing for Croatia. Larkin is a teammate of Croatia’s Krunoslav Simon, which is where the idea seems to have originated.
“I just spoke about it with the Kruno yesterday. I can say that I’m definitely open to the idea,” Larkin told Basketball.hr.
”It would definitely be nice to perform at the Olympics. It’s every athlete’s dream. Of course, I would prefer playing for the USA, but given the situation, I am definitely open to the idea of playing for Croatia. This is something I should think about very well this season. There are a lot of factors that need to coincide and I need to hear from the responsible people about what would be expected of me. But the idea is certainly interesting,” he added.
Croatia is the thinnest in the playmaker position, where Larkin has proven his class. Last season, Efes made it to the Euroleague final; CSKA were better, but Larkin was the best scorer of the match with 29 points, while he scored 30 in the semi-final against Fenerbahce.
Croatia can still qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Recall, the national team awaits a qualifying tournament next June. We will see then if coach Veljko Mrsic will rely solely on Croatian forces or boost his squad with an NBA pedigree.
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