Shane Larkin joined Fenerbahçe Istanbul this summer, after eight seasons at Anadolu Efes Istanbul, its great rival in the EuroLeague. He says he never thought he would end up playing for that club.
Larkin had signed a long-term contract with Efes a few years back, and expected to stay much longer. “You kind of expect to stay there for much longer, but things happen in your career,” he told BasketNews. He adds that he still has a lot of respect for Anadolu Efes, despite the move across town.
Larkin says he hasn’t scored ten points or more against Efes in eight years, the only team in the EuroLeague he can say that about. He means to change that on 7 January, when Efes host Fenerbahçe.
I called my mother, in Indiana, to tell her about it: a player switches sides after eight seasons, to go and play for the old rival, in the same city. She asked me how you sign a long-term contract and then end up, a few years later, in the hall across town. I tried to explain that things happen in a career, even when you don’t expect them. She didn’t look convinced.
Let me tell you: I signed for one year in Charleroi, in 2000, with a bag, a hall with badminton lines still on the floor and a heating system with its own moods. A quarter of a century later, I’m still on the same side of town, in the same club, with the same wife. I never had to choose between two rival halls; I had to choose between staying or going home, and I chose to stay.
Over there, they call that switching sides. Here, we call it staying loyal to your P1, the first provincial division, even when nobody’s asking you to. She said: see?
It’s true, we checked: BasketNews.
