The 27-year-old was unstoppable as Paris beat Monaco in Round 5
TJ Shorts epitomizes the definition of heart over height
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For undersized basketball players all over the world, TJ Shorts is proving that you don’t need to be 6-foot or taller in order to dominate.
Standing at 5-foot-9 (1.75m), Shorts played with the heart of a 6-foot-6 guard on Thursday night as he led his Paris Basketball squad to an 80-87 win at AS Monaco in this week’s Rivalry Series game.
Many fans may not have known a lot about Shorts before this season, but the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague rookie has already become a household name just five games into his EuroLeague career.
If his first three appearances showed he can make the step up, his last two games have seen him turn into a EuroLeague superstar. Paris could feel hard done by to have gone 0-3 to start the campaign, but Shorts has taken his game to another level in recent weeks to help his team notch back-to-back wins against two sides who made last year’s EuroLeague Playoffs: Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, the reigning champion, and now Monaco.
Viewers of the NBA will remember how Isaiah Thomas – another 5-foot-9 (1.75m) guard – showed that heart triumphs over height back in his incredible 2016-17 season with the Boston Celtics, and now Shorts who is doing the same with Paris in the EuroLeague.
It is fascinating to remember just how far the Paris star has come in the last few years. Just five years ago, he was playing in the top flight of the Latvian League. And over the last three years, he has worked his way up the ranks on the European stage, too, passing through the FIBA Europe Cup (2021-22), the FIBA Basketball Champions League (2022-23) and the BKT EuroCup (2023-24) before finally arriving in the EuroLeague.
What’s more, he is coming off back-to-back MVP seasons in Europe, having led Telekom Baskets Bonn to BCL glory in 2023 and Paris to the EuroCup title in 2024. Last season, Shorts was named the French League MVP over his opponent on Thursday night, Monaco’s Mike James, the all-time leading scorer in EuroLeague history.
Straight from the tip at Salle Gaston Medecin, Shorts made sure his Paris squad was playing at an electric pace, scoring 11 first-quarter points and conducting everything on offense. He didn’t slow down in the second quarter either, with Shorts having 19 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists to his name as Paris entered the break with a six-point advantage, 43-49, having led the entire game to that point.
Even if Monaco did fight back in the third to enter the final quarter with a 64-63 edge, Shorts surpassed his previous career high of 22 points by moving to 25 points, while he added one assist to take his tally to 4. In the final frame, he showed why he is already one of the best playmaking guards in the EuroLeague by dishing six assists and scoring three points, giving him a 28-point, 10-assist double-double come the final buzzer – and most importantly, the victory.
“It’s an amazing feeling right now for us to get our first road win against, I guess you could call, one of our rivals in the French League,” Shorts told EuroLeague TV after Paris’ Rivalry Series triumph at Monaco. “It’s huge for us and it just builds confidence. We’re going to continue to roll with it.
“We’ve lost a lot of tight games and we feel like we’re right there to get over that hump. This is only going to boost our confidence to continue for the reason of the season, and hopefully there are more wins in the future.”
There were some doubts about Shorts entering the 2024-25 season, particularly after Tuomas Iisalo – the 27-year-old’s coach for the last two years at Bonn and Paris – departed the French club this past offseason. Yet, he is now thriving against the best of the best under first-year head coach Tiago Splitter.
Just like he has done his entire career, Shorts is proving his doubters wrong once again.