Shane Larkin shares his NBA advice to Vasilije Micic / News - Basketnews.com

Shane Larkin has a personal NBA regret that he doesn't want Vasilije Micic to replicate.

Credit: EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages Credit EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages

Shane Larkin, one of the top EuroLeague scorers, shared some valuable advice with Vasilije Micic before his move to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Micic sought Larkin's guidance, and drawing from his own four-year NBA experience, Anadolu Efes Istanbul star offered some crucial insights.

Vasilije Micic

Position:PG, SGAge:29Height:195 cmWeight:92 kgBirth place:Kraljevo, SerbiaProfileNewsStatistics

"He was asking me how should he play, what should his mindset be. And I told him you have to go there with the same exact mindset as you have here in Efes," Larkin explained on the recent URBONUS episode.

"You got to go there with the idea to be aggressive every time you catch the ball. Don't take a possession off. Defensively, you just have to show yourself and show that you're able to switch and guard your yard, be able to rotate and do all the things that they're going to ask them defensively. But offensively I just told him to be you," he continued.

Micic signed a three-year, $23.5 million contract with the OKC, with a team option for the third season.

While some expressed concerns about how he would fit in the crowded Thunder's backcourt, Larkin is confident that Micic can succeed in the NBA.

"I think that anybody who's kind of been in both situations will understand that he's going to have a different role over there in the NBA. But it can't change who he is as a player.

I told him my biggest regret was that when I went to the NBA I kind of thought like, 'Oh, now I'm playing with Vince Carter, Shawn Marion, Dirk Nowitzki, like, I got to get them the ball and get out of the way. Like they're the All-Stars, they're the superstars, they've been in the league for 12, 15 or 20 years and I'm just this 20-year-old rookie coming out first, second, and third year playing with guys in Dallas, New York, and Brooklyn.'

And I never really felt like I took advantage of the opportunity to just be me, and that's what I told him he doesn't want to feel," Larkin revealed.

"You don't want to feel like you didn't go over there and try to be yourself. You don't want to go over there and be like, 'Oh, now I'm the pass-first point guard who's just not going to be aggressive and take my sidestep threes or whatever the case. You have to go out there and be you because if you're not going to do that, you're going to regret it at the end of the day," he explained.

"My advice to him is just be yourself, be true to who you are. What's the worst that can happen? Like, you come back to Europe and you're the highest-paid guy and you're going to whatever team you want to go to. What's the worst case? So just go out there, be yourself, play hard, be you, and kind of see how it goes," Larkin concluded.

Micic left Europe as a back-to-back EuroLeague champion and Final Four MVP.

Since the 2018-19 season, he ranked second in total points scored, third in efficiency, assists, and steals, and fourth in 3-pointers made in the EuroLeague.

Watch the entire URBONUS episode with Shane Larkin and Errick McCollum:

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