Paris star TJ Shorts selected as MVP for November

The EuroLeague rookie is going from strength to strength, having led his team to the joint-best record in the league

There has been no stopping Paris Basketball of late, and a big reason for that has been the play of TJ Shorts, who has been selected as Euroleague Basketball’s MVP of the Month for November.

Paris is in the midst of an eight-game winning streak, with five of those being included in the period for the November MVP award, which has seen Shorts’s team improve to a 9-3 record and go joint top of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.

Over the last five games, Shorts has shown that he can score and assist at an elite level in the EuroLeague, averaging 19.6 points per game over that stretch and a league-best 8.4 assists per game. What’s more, he has averaged a 25.2 PIR, comfortably the highest of any player in the November MVP race, and his plus/minus is the joint highest of any player this month, level with Paris teammate Mikael Jantunen.

After beating Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and Zalgiris Kaunas at home, Shorts and co. stunned FC Barcelona at Palau Blaugrana before following that up with another road win at Anadolu Efes Istanbul. To close the month, Paris beat Virtus Segafredo Bologna to go joint top.

Against Partizan, Shorts hit a pair of clutch free throws with 22 seconds left to help Paris regain the lead, with the Parisian outfit remaining in front the rest of the way. When Zalgiris came to town, Shorts netted 21 points – the third time he had gone above 20 points this season – before following that up with a 24-point, 9-assist performance at Barcelona, which was unbeaten at home until that point. His 3 steals in that win at Barcelona tied his career high, which he set in Round 1.

He didn’t stop there. At Efes, Shorts recorded his second EuroLeague double-double by pairing 21 points with 10 assists, before posting 19 points and 9 assists – including a dagger two-pointer – in a win over Virtus in Paris. After shooting 2 for 15 on three-pointers through the first seven rounds of the EuroLeague season, Shorts – who didn’t attempt a three-point shot in Round 8 – is 6 for 7 from deep over the last four games.

The MVP of the Month is named by Euroleague Basketball based on his and his team’s performances. The award for November covered the five games played by all teams between Thursday, November 7, and Friday, November 29.

This marks the first time that Shorts has earned monthly MVP honors in what is his rookie season in the competition, and this is the first time a Paris player has secured the award.