Shane Larkin talks about wanting to show he wasn’t a wasted pick and how was snubbed by ESPN

Shane Larkin stopped for an interview in between photo shoots and recording TV promos at Mavericks media day on Monday.

He didn’t get more than 30 seconds in before fellow rookie Ricky Ledo interrupted. The two have become fast friends in their short time with the Mavericks, so much so that it led to questions about whether the two had known each other before hand.

They hadn’t, but the two are just a year apart in age. Larkin remembered Ledo as one of the top high school prospects.

“He was a big time guy, a top 10 recruit,” Larkin said. “He was supposed to be here. I wasn’t ranked and all that. I wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Larkin still remembers his rankings: 72nd overall on Rivals.com and outside of the top 100 on ESPN.

“I paid a lot of attention to it,” Larkin said. “On ESPN I was ranked, and then some guy went there and he didn’t think I was a good player and I dropped like 40 spots. … Now I just go back and laugh at it. I was the 28th-ranked point guard (ESPN actually ranked him 26th) in my high school class. Then in the 2013 NBA draft I was the fourth point guard taken.

“It’s just a testament to hard work. Recruiting guys don’t always know what they’re talking about. They said I was too small, not fast enough, wasn’t strong enough. Now I’m here.”

Larkin still has a long journey to take in order to play in his first NBA game though, after breaking his ankle during practice this summer. He said the ankle caved as he tried to jump for an easy score after a steal in practice.

“It was real tough at first because you want to play in the summer league,” Larkin said. “You want to get your name out there, you want to show all the Mavs fans, the whole organization that they didn’t waste the 18th pick.”

He originally expected to miss five to six months, but after electing to stay in Dallas during the summer to rehab, he said he’s ahead of schedule.
The beginning of training camp is out of the question for Larkin, as is the first couple of preseason games, but he feels confident in a return before the first regular season game.

The stay during the summer has helped Larkin, but he knows he’ll miss some of the chemistry that comes with playing with his teammates during training camp and in those preseason games.

“Once you get out on the court it’s different,” Larkin said. “It’s going to hard to learn how they play, but it’s not really hard to play with Dirk. Get him the ball when he’s open.”


(dallasnews.com