Shawn Long

Shawn Long is a talented American professional basketball player. Shawn Long is predominantly a power forward for the Levanga Hokkaido in the Japanese B. League. Long played college basketball for the Louisiana Ragin Casuns until 2016 before making his professional league debut. 

However, he began his professional league career in America, with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he played preseason games.

He has since played league games for other international clubs.

Education, Family, and Childhood

Shawn Long was born in Morgan City, Louisiana, on January 29, 1993.

He is the eldest child of Carolyn Long, a native of Louisiana.

In addition to him, she has a daughter named Shelly. Shelly died in 2018 from an autoimmune condition.

Long and his father had a strong bond, and he was always there to watch after everyone.

Shawn’s father, however, died of cancer when he was only twelve years old.

Following that tragic event, he moved to a tiny hamlet in Louisiana with his mother and grandmother, where he attended Morgan City High School, which was only a short distance from their home.

Carolyn, his mother, was the family’s sole breadwinner, therefore she worked really hard to meet her children’s needs.

Apart from that, his grandma was a huge assistance because she cared after them when his mother was away. Regrettably, his grandmother died only two years after his father.

Long grew up in a close-knit hamlet known as “Across The Tracks,” where youth were passionate about basketball.

Despite being heavy as a child, Shawn got along and learned to like the sport.

Fights and other crimes were widespread in his hometown, which was concerning.

He grew up in a poor family and was fully aware of his mother’s difficulties, so he never did anything to upset her.

He also had a special affinity for basketball that he received from his late father, therefore he never stopped playing it.

He never imagined himself as a professional athlete, let alone one who would play in the NBA, during his boyhood.

Age & Body Features

Shawn Long is 29 years old as of 2022.

About his physical stats, the Hokkaido club’s power forward stands 2.06 meters (6 feet 9 inches) tall.

He was already around 6’3″ as a high school freshman but was very fat and clumsy, as already stated above.

But now, the player is very fit and has lost his body fat as he regularly goes to the gym for workouts.

He currently weighs around 248lb (112 kg).

Furthermore, Long has been fascinated with tattoos since he was a kid.

He had already inked sleeve tattoos on both of his arms when he was in college.

Similarly, he has a few of them on his neck.

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Facts of Shawn Long

Net Worth & Career Earnings

The estimated net worth of Shawn Long is somewhere between $1 million to $5 million.

Shawn had initially played for the NBA club Philadelphia 76ers signing a ten-day contract worth $31k.

After that contract expired, the 76ers signed a two-year contract with $1.5 million, but during the signing, the club paid him around $65k.

He played more matches for their NBA G League affiliate club, Delaware 87ers, so probably they paid him much less. At the end of 2016-17, he appeared in about 18 matches for them, so they offered him nearly $90k.

There is not much information regarding his earnings in foreign leagues. Still, according to some media outlets, he is currently earning around $1 million playing for the Levanga Hokkaido in the 2021-22 season.

Even though the average base salary of the Japanese league is around $145k, they tend to pay more to the overseas players with experience of playing in the major leagues.

So, Shawn is currently earning a pretty decent amount from the B. League.

Basketball Profession

Career in High School

From the start, Shawn was a member of the Morgan City High School basketball team.

He struggled to get his game perfect at first since he was out of shape and traumatized by the early loss of his family members.

The school team management, on the other hand, placed faith in him and included him on the roster. Jeremy Wittington, in particular, was aware of his problems and cared profoundly for him.

He lost a lot of weight over time and excelled in the following seasons.

He was the best player on the team at power forward and could also play center.

As a result, Long averaged 21.4 points and 15.2 rebounds per game during his senior season.

In 2011, he was named the district’s Most Valuable Player and finest defensive player.

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College Life

Shawn attended Mississippi State University for a semester in 2011, however, he never played for the Bulldogs.

In 2012, he transferred to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and joined the Ragin’ Casuns.

Long graduated from UL with a bachelor’s degree in general studies in 2016.

He teamed up with future NBA player Elfrid Payton in Louisiana and averaged 15.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game during his freshman season.

That season, he was the leading rebounder, a position he held throughout his college career.

In collegiate basketball, he was the first player in the Sun Belt Conference to reach 2000 points and 1000 rebounds.

Career Opportunities

Shawn had a strong suspicion that he would be taken in the NBA draft in 2016, much like his friend Payton had done two years before.

Furthermore, his academic achievement throughout college was outstanding, which raised his hopes significantly.

He went undrafted, and on July 8, 2017, he signed a short-term contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.

On October 24, he was released by the club after only seven preseason games.

He did not appear in an NBA regular-season game until 2017.

He played for the Delaware 87ers in the NBA Development League when the 76ers filled the roster as their many standard players suffered from injuries.

So, he appeared in 18 matches in the 2016-17 season, in which he averaged 8.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

His performance was considered well for a substitute player, but the club did not want him.

Foreign Leagues

Shawn initially traveled to China and played for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in the Chinese Basketball League for around two months until mid-November.

He averaged 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds, appearing in six games.

Since then, he has played for different foreign clubs in overseas leagues, such as Melbourne United of the NBL and Ulsan Mobis Phoebus of the Korean Basketball League (KBL).

Long is currently playing for the Sapporo-based club named Levanga Hokkaido in the Japanese B. League.

He signed with the club on June 18, 2021.

Besides league games, Long has already donned the jersey of the US national team.

Long was part of the national team representing America in the 2015 Pan American Games.

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Personal Life

Shawn Long’s marital status is unknown. As the player mostly plays overseas, not much about him gets written in popular American media outlets, so most of his contemporary personal details remain a secret.

In addition, he has completely distanced himself from social media, so almost nothing about his private life is known.

However, as per the CBS Sports article published in 2015, Long has a son named Jace Long.

He was born around 2011 when he returned home from Mississippi State University before going to the University of Louisiana to play college basketball.

Besides that, there is no information on who Jace’s mother is. So, whatever the reason is, he wants his private life to be confidential.