Nebraska basketball: Shavon Shields has stellar 2018 Pelicans debut

Former Nebraska basketball star Shavon Shields is giving getting an NBA contract another go and he started off the Summer League season like gangbusters.

Shavon Shields didn’t have a great go-round the first time he tried to make it in the NBA. The former Nebraska basketball star is older and wiser now.

It looks like that wisdom is paying off so far. This year, Shields is playing for the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2018 Summer League.

His, and his team’s first game in this short-season league was Friday night and Shields was the starting shooting guard. Not only did he start, but he showed the versatility that made him a hot prospect back in the day when he was playing for Tim Miles and the Cornhuskers.

Shields led the Pelicans in minutes played, scoring 12 points and hauling down eight rebounds. Going 4 for 6 from the field, he also went 1 for 2 from three-point land and he hit three of his five shots from the free-throw line.

Shields had quite the nice round night, adding in three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. All in all, it was one heck of a 2018 Summer League Debut.

Shields still has a long way to go if he wants to get into the NBA’s regular season. Proving he can hang with the other developmental projects is just step one.

Even the former Husker seems to know this, as it appears that backing out of his contract with the Italian league, Trento. Once this Summer League “season” is over, he’ll be looking to get into the Euroleague.

For now, the former Nebraska basketball star is looking quite good against other Summer League players. Now we’ll just have to wait and see what Shavon Shields can do next. it was a nice debut for the New Orleans Pelicans, but he’s going to need a followup