Shaedon Sharpe

Shaedon Sharpe
Sharpe in 2022
No. 17 – Portland Trail Blazers
PositionShooting guard
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (2003-05-30) May 30, 2003 (age 21)
London, Ontario, Canada
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school
NBA draft2022: 1st round, 7th overall pick
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Playing career2022–present
Career history
2022–presentPortland Trail Blazers
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Canada
FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship
Silver medal – second place 2019 Brazil Team

Shaedon Sharpe (/ˈʃeɪdən/ SHAY-dən;[1] born May 30, 2003) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A consensus five-star recruit out of high school, Sharpe signed to play college basketball with the Kentucky Wildcats, but did not play a game before leaving for the NBA. He was selected seventh overall in the 2022 NBA draft.

High school career

Sharpe played basketball for H. B. Beal Secondary School in his hometown of London, Ontario and led his team to an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAA appearance.[2] He moved to Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, where he had a limited production as a sophomore.[3] For his junior season, Sharpe transferred to Dream City Christian School in Glendale, Arizona and assumed a leading role.[4] He averaged 21.4 points and six rebounds per game in the Grind Session.[5] He competed for UPLAY Canada on the Amateur Athletic Union circuit, with whom he was mentored by Dwayne Washington.[6]

Recruiting

Sharpe was a consensus five-star recruit and was previously the consensus number one player in the 2022 class before reclassifying.[7] Sharpe was unranked by major recruiting services early in his high school career and became one of the top players in his class in about one year, in part due to his success at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in 2021.[8] On September 7, 2021, he committed to playing college basketball for Kentucky over offers from Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma State and the NBA G League Ignite. He was the first number one recruit to commit to the program since Nerlens Noel in 2012.[9]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Shaedon Sharpe
SG 		London, ON Dream City Christian (AZ) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sep 7, 2021 
Recruiting star ratings: Rivals:5/5 stars   247Sports:5/5 stars    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 97
Overall recruiting rankings:   Rivals: 1  247Sports: 1  ESPN: 1
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "Kentucky 2021 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  • "2021 Kentucky Wildcats Recruiting Class". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  • "2021 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved January 19, 2022.

College career

Sharpe graduated early from high school with the intention of redshirting his first year at Kentucky and playing in the 2022–23 season.[10] On February 7, 2022, head coach John Calipari announced that Sharpe would not play for the team in the 2021–22 season after speculation that he would play and enter the 2022 NBA draft, for which he was eligible.[11] On April 21, Sharpe declared for the 2022 draft, forgoing his remaining college eligibility without playing a game.[12]

Professional career

Sharpe was selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He joined the 6th overall pick, Bennedict Mathurin, as the only Canadians drafted in the first round that year. On July 1, 2022, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Trail Blazers.[13] On July 8, 2022, in his NBA Summer League debut, Sharpe suffered a shoulder injury after under six minutes of play. An MRI later revealed a small labral tear in his left shoulder, and Sharpe was unable to play for the rest of the Summer League.[14] On October 19, 2022, he made his NBA debut, scoring 12 points in a 115–108 win over the Sacramento Kings.[15] On March 29, 2023, in a loss against the Sacramento Kings, Sharpe had 30 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists, and joined LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Luka Dončić as the only teenagers to ever achieve such numbers in a game.[16]

On February 9, 2024, Sharpe underwent abdominal surgery. On April 9, 2024, the team announced that Sharpe would miss the remainder of the season.[17]

On September 30, 2024, Sharpe was cleared for training camp after undergoing abdominal surgery.[18]

National team career

Sharpe represented Canada at the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Brazil. He averaged 13 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists, helping his team win the silver medal.[19]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2022–23 Portland 80 15 22.2 .472 .360 .714 3.0 1.2 .5 .3 9.9
2023–24 Portland 32 25 33.1 .406 .333 .824 5.0 2.9 .9 .4 15.9
Career 112 40 25.3 .445 .350 .772 3.5 1.7 .6 .3 11.6

References

  1. ^ "2023-24 start of season NBA pronunciation guide" (Press release). National Basketball Association. October 24, 2023. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  2. ^ Silva, Edilson J. (July 19, 2021). "Canadian Stud Shaedon Sharpe blowing-up the spot". BasketballBuzz. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  3. ^ Jordan, Jason (November 23, 2020). "Shaedon Sharpe's Stock Continues to Ascend with Monster Start to the Season". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  4. ^ Scott, Dana (July 28, 2020). "4-star Canadian recruit Shaedon Sharpe joins Dream City Christian boys basketball team". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  5. ^ Pascoe, Bruce (June 23, 2021). "Four-star 2022 guard Shaedon Shape of Canada taking unofficial visit to Arizona". Arizona Daily Star. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  6. ^ Jones, Ryan (November 30, 2021). "What's Next: Shaedon Sharpe Was Barely Ranked Last Year—Now He's Ready to Take Over at Kentucky". Slam. Archived from the original on January 23, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  7. ^ Bossi, Eric (September 15, 2021). "Shaedon Sharpe claims the No. 1 spot in updated 2022 rankings". 247Sports. Archived from the original on September 16, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  8. ^ O'Donnell, Ricky (June 16, 2022). "Shaedon Sharpe is the NBA Draft mystery box with all of the tools and none of the tape". SB Nation. Archived from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  9. ^ Givony, Jonathan (September 7, 2021). "Shaedon Sharpe, top-ranked prospect in class of 2022, commits to Kentucky Wildcats". ESPN. Archived from the original on September 7, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
  10. ^ Borzello, Jeff (November 9, 2021). "No. 1 men's basketball prospect Shaedon Sharpe to enroll early with Kentucky Wildcats, won't play until 2022–23 season". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  11. ^ Borzello, Jeff (February 7, 2022). "Kentucky star freshman Shaedon Sharpe won't play this season, John Calipari says". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  12. ^ Borzello, Jeff (April 21, 2022). "Shaedon Sharpe, who never played for Kentucky as a freshman, to enter 2022 NBA draft, sources say". ESPN. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  13. ^ "Trail Blazers Sign Shaedon Sharpe". NBA. July 1, 2022. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  14. ^ "Blazers rookie Sharpe has labral tear in shoulder". ESPN.com. July 9, 2022. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  15. ^ "GRANT RALLIES BLAZERS PAST KINGS 113-108 IN OPENER". NBA. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  16. ^ Oregonian/OregonLive, Aaron Fentress | The (March 31, 2023). "Trail Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe joins rare company". oregonlive. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  17. ^ Oregonian, AARON FENTRESS The (April 9, 2024). "Trail Blazers' Shaedon Sharpe to miss rest of season". Herald and News. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  18. ^ "Trail Blazers' Shaedon Sharpe: Cleared for training camp". CBSSports.com. September 30, 2024. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  19. ^ Vaught, Larry (February 16, 2021). "UK recruiting target Shaedon Sharpe has goals he pursues every day". Your Sports Edge. Archived from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.