Shane Larkin Reportedly on His Way to Fenerbahce After Turning Down Bigger Offers

Shane Larkin, long identified with Anadolu Efes and a two-time EuroLeague champion with the club, is reportedly set to stay in Istanbul and sign a two-year deal with Turkish champion Fenerbahce. The report appeared overnight, between Wednesday and Thursday, and says the guard has chosen the city’s biggest rival.

According to the article, Anadolu had already reached an arrangement with Crvena zvezda for Larkin to move to Belgrade, with the Turkish club covering half his salary and paying $1.9 million of the $3.8 million he was due to earn next season. Larkin refused the move to Serbia, and a separate report says he also agreed terms with Fenerbahce.

Anadolu was said to be unhappy about letting him join the archrival, but the issue was reportedly resolved after Larkin agreed to forgo all of the salary he was supposed to receive from Anadolu. The same report says he also rejected a huge offer from Dubai, worth $10 million over two years.

Larkin was injured last season and played only 12 EuroLeague games, averaging 15.3 points and 4.2 assists. Before joining Anadolu, he made his EuroLeague debut with Baskonia in 2016/17, returned to the NBA for a season with the Boston Celtics, then came back to Europe and won two EuroLeague titles with the Turkish side. A separate BasketNews report says forward Branko Katic, a key player for Valencia in its run to the EuroLeague Final Four and title, also agreed to join Fenerbahce and is expected to fit into coach Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team.