Shaquille Harrison, ASVEL’s savior against Chalon
Shaquille Harrison (6’4″, 31 years old) wasn’t expected to be the game-changer in Game 1 between ASVEL and Chalon. However, on Tuesday night at the Astroballe, the 31-year-old American guard delivered an outstanding performance on both ends of the floor, producing his best showing of the French season. In today’s edition, Le Progrès highlights this unsung hero, who earned praise from his entire team.
An unexpected but decisive performance
While the spotlight was on Théo Maledon’s four-point play with 40 seconds remaining, it was Shaquille Harrison who posted the highest performance index rating for ASVEL: 28, thanks to 25 points (9/14 shooting), 5 rebounds (including 4 offensive) and 4 assists. This offensive display was particularly noteworthy as he had never reached this level of production in Villeurbanne, where he had been averaging a 7.3 PIR in the league.
Nationality:
In the post-game press conference, Chalon’s coach Elric Delord admitted a strategic error: « We decided to put our weakest defender on him. Harrison is very fast? Yes, but he doesn’t shoot. The points he scored were against ‘smaller’ players who couldn’t handle his strength. »
A rich career between NBA and G-League
After attending the University of Tulsa, Shaquille Harrison also had a background as a high-level football player. However, instead of playing football at Kansas in NCAA, he became a key player for Tulsa Golden Hurricane. He’s actually the only player in school history to accumulate at least 1,300 points, 400 assists, and 200 steals. But it was afterwards that he built his reputation as an elite defender: undrafted in 2016, he managed to play 200 NBA games between 2018 and 2023 (Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, Brooklyn, Memphis, Portland, Lakers), before standing out in the G-League. Twice named Defensive Player of the Year (2022, 2024), he led the league in steals for two consecutive seasons.
🇺🇸 Shaquille Harrison rozegrał wczoraj swoje najlepsze spotkanie od czasu przyjścia do ASVEL, które pokonało Chalon 100-87 i jest jedną nogą w półfinale play-offów obecnego sezonu ligi francuskiej.
27 minut
25 punktów
5 zbiórek
4 asysty
1 blok
1 przechwytpic.twitter.com/fesHUPJfhz— Marcin28 🇵🇱 (@Assassi80518554) May 28, 2025
Praise for discretion and work ethic
After joining ASVEL in summer 2024, Harrison immediately blended into the Villeurbanne collective. « Shaq is a wonderful guy and a hard worker. He’s always positive, eager to learn, which is remarkable at his age, » shared his coach Pierric Poupet. « He’s less vocal than David (Lighty), but they share the same relational and emotional intelligence. »
In a crucial game, the former teammate of LeBron James and Nikola Jokic proved he could also be an offensive threat, without losing sight of his primary role: « It was my night, but tomorrow morning I’ll come back to be even tougher, regardless if I score zero points on Thursday. »
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