Shavon Shields nearly played all of his games during his time in Nebraska. At the same time, he excelled in the academic sphere of his collegiate career as he carried 3.73 GPA in biological sciences and was a six-time member of Nebraska’s scholar-athlete honor roll. That was back in 2015. Now, with his professional career starting in 2016 by joining the Fraport Skyliners, Shields remain an excellent example in the peak of his career.
Nine years have passed since Shields exited Nebraska as one of the most decorated basketball players of the college. Nebraska excels at providing top-notch role players, but Shavon Shields elected to become a star in the European stage.
Coming off an athletic family as his father was a star football athlete, Shields learned to be a top-notch professional early in his life.
His father Will Shields is a former offensive lineman and All American. He was also part of the Kansas City Chiefs and he never missed a game in his 14 years playing. Shields had the backing of his father growing to become an elite basketball player.
“Being professional, being prepared, come into work every day to improve and, at the end of the day, all you can control is how you approach it mentally with your attitude, so just try to do it that way,” Shavon Shields said on the lessons he learned by his father.
After four years in Nebraska where Shields became a mainstay in the Cornhuskers roster, he embarked to a career that attained new heights every season. From a small team in the German Bundesliga to a mid-tier club in Italy and then to a EuroLeague and ACB powerhouse in Baskonia.
Shields was successful in every part of his professional career so far leading Trento to two LBA finals appearance, while he won the ACB title with Baskonia in 2020 before joining Milan to help the Italian powerhouse to reach the EuroLeague Final-4 in 2021.
However, the biggest individual success was not yet to come despite making the All-EuroLeague team in consecutive seasons in 2021 and 2022. However, on Wednesday,the 30-years old forward became the leading scorer in Milan’s EuroLeague history after four seasons with the Italian club.
Shavon Shields completes milestone in crucial win
Every time he was called for, Shavon Shields elevated his game and that was the case in the EuroLeague Round 30 clash vs. AS Monaco, where the Ettore Messina side played its chances to remain in spot for a top-10 finish.
Nikola Mirotic was the top scorer registering 22 of Milan’s record-setting 98 points in the win, but Shavon Shields was once again the best player in the court.
The Nebraska product came up with 10 points to push his total to 1,298 with Milan’s jersey, while he added 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. He had the best plus-minus on his team being a +28 when he was on the court. He eventually surpassed the legendary Bob McAdoo, who finished his Milan career with 1,292.
The forward will be able to add another milestone as he notched 167 threes so far this season and he needs three more attempts to become the club leader in that regard surpassing Sergio Rodriguez. The scoring swingman is shooting 41.3 percent from three this season 3.2% over his career average of 38.1.
In addition to that, he’s making everything in his power to push Milan back to the playoff picture as he scored 10+ points in 5 of the last six EuroLeague games having a 3-3 record during that stint. Shavon Shields will hope to lead his team to another big night on Friday as Milan is taking on Fenerbache in hope of keeping its play-in ambitions alive.
