Former Clinton High multi-sport athlete Shian Bradshaw recently played in a pickup game at the Sampson Recreation Center. “Just be yourself, have passion, keep having that faith, be a dog,” former CHS basketball player Shian Bradshaw said. “No matter what it is, no matter what sport you’re playing — basketball, football, baseball, tennis — it doesn’t matter, just get after it.”
His story is one of trials and tribulations; from torn hamstrings to winning a bronze medal in Australia, and everywhere in between. Basketball has been his dream and it has now taken him all over the world.
A native of Clinton, he was a three-sport athlete for the Dark Horses. While he played football and ran track, his shining moments were on the basketball court. It was there that he racked up the accolades: male Athlete of the Year and Sampson County Player of the Year.
Basketball has taken him all over the world, he said. “I was back home, here in Clinton,” recalled Bradshaw during an interview last week. “I was playing Fortnite and I got this random email [with a contract]. I looked at it, and I said ‘ain’t no way’.” That email, turns out, was a contract to play basketball in Australia. Shian said he was scared, because it was his first time out of the country.
In the six years since he traveled to the land down under to play basketball, he has gone many more places — especially internationally. He has played on teams in Uruguay, Belize, and now El Salvador, showcasing his talents in places he had never been. It was the time in Australia that truly catapulted him as a player, he remarked.
“I left Australia as a bronze medalist in the 3v3,” Bradshaw said with a smile. “I played with a lot of guys from the NBL1 there. I was the only American to get an award.” The NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball league, akin to the NBA’s G-League. Players in that league are trying to make it to the top of Australia’s ranks for basketball, the NBL. FIBA team members, and even Olympians have come from the NBL, so competition is stiff. Playing against that caliber of player is what helped Bradshaw develop himself even more on the court, said the former Dark Horse player.
But still, Clinton has stayed with him wherever he’s gone, he said. “I always ask myself, where did it start? Clinton,” said Bradshaw. “I get people asking me ‘what keeps you going?’ and I let them know: it’s where I’m from. I’m not from a big a city, I’m from here.”
That mindset is what helped him through the ups-and-downs of life, he remarked. One setback he faced was a torn hamstring during his first dunk competition in 2018. “I tore it doing some crazy dunk,” recalled Bradshaw. “And I wanted to keep going — I didn’t want to lose.” He persevered through that injury and ended up trying the dunk again, ultimately winning the competition. A once again smiling Bradshaw said that he carries the “Mamba mentality” of famed Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant.
“I take that personal,” a sentimental, yet jovial Bradshaw continued about his idol. “Because I’m a huge Kobe fan. And he just never gave up — even if he got hurt, he just kept going.”
But before he could get to tearing his hamstring in a dunk contest, he was faced with another adversity: not being recruited out of high school. “Man, I was getting a lot of JUCO letters,” Bradshaw said with a little bit of laughter, when asked about high school recruitment. “Shout-out to my senior coach, Coach Jordan. He actually took me in his truck. We drove all the way to Wake Tech in Raleigh, and he introduced me to the coach, who told me I was on the team.”
These days, Bradshaw does a myriad of things — whether it’s playing basketball in El Salvador or at the Sampson Center, helping children with their skills and developing their love for the game, or his work on social media, Bradshaw stays busy with anything and everything related to basketball. “Social media is a great way to meet people all around the world, especially when it comes to sports,” he remarked. “Two years ago, Tracy McGrady reached out to me to play in his OBL tournament.”
That tournament, otherwise known as the Ones Basketball League tournament, is something put on by the former Toronto Raptors star to showcase the skills of players in one-on-one games all over the country. Not only did Bradshaw get to meet McGrady, but he also met former NBA star Paul Pierce, while participating in the tournament in Los Angeles. “That lets you know that social media has a huge impact for athletes, no matter how old you are or what level of ball you played,” he added.
As for his plans for the future, Bradshaw says he will be playing in El Salvador again this year. He averaged almost 24 points a game in the 16 games he played there last season, with a 35-point game thrown into the mix. He will head there in August or September and get prepared for this upcoming season.
Bradshaw had a short, but simple, closing message for everyone, “You only live once, so make the best out of it while you can.”
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