Tornike "Toko" Shengelia ( ka, თორნიკე შენგელია; born October 5, 1991) is a Georgian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. At a height of 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) tall, he plays at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

position. Shengelia also represents the senior Georgian national team. He earned an

All-EuroLeague First Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

selection in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Professional career

Early career

From 2008 to 2010, Shengelia played for both

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spons ...

and its junior team, Valencia BC Sunny Delight. In 2010, he signed with Spirou Charleroi of Belgium, who later loaned him to VOO Verviers-Pepinster for the 2010–11 season. In August 2011, it was announced that he would play for Spirou Charleroi in 2011–12.

Brooklyn Nets (2012–2014)

Shengelia was selected with the 54th overall pick in the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Asso ...

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. He was later traded to the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

on draft night. In July 2012, he joined the Nets for the 2012 NBA Summer League. In 5 games, he averaged 10.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. On July 24, 2012, Shengelia signed with the Nets. During his rookie and sophomore seasons, he had multiple assignments with the

Springfield Armor Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queensl ...

of the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

Chicago Bulls (2014)

On January 21, 2014, Shengelia was traded to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

in exchange for

Marquis Teague Marquis Devante Teague (born February 28, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Kolossos Rodou of the Greek Basket League. He was one of the top-rated high school basketball players in the class of 2011. High school career In ...

. On April 14, 2014, he was waived by the Bulls.

Baskonia (2014–2020)

On June 21, 2014, Shengelia signed a three-year deal with Baskonia. On March 1, 2015, the basque derby with

Bilbao Basket Club Basket Bilbao Berri S.A.D., commonly known as Bilbao Basket (), also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Bilba ...

finished with a brawl where Dejan Todorović of Bilbao and he were disqualified and 12 players were ejected due to court invasion during the fight. With four seconds left and Bilbao winning by a huge margin, despite the referee's call for a traveling, Todorović was going to dunk when Todorović was hit by him. After this, the Serbian player pushed him from behind and the Georgian forward reacted with a punch. After this, all the players who were in the bench came into the court and started the brawl. When Shengelia was leaving the court after the disqualifying foul, he apologized to a child who was in the first row of the arena. The ACB announced this brawl would have severe consequences and sanctions and would talk with the Spanish Basketball Federation for changing the disciplinary regulations. On March 5, the league provisionally suspended Todorović and Shengelia until the final resolution of the case. Both clubs claimed to have the same sanctions than in 2004, when the brawl

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and Estudiantes occurred. Finally, on March 11, the Disciplinary Judge accorded to suspend him for five games, Todorović for four and a €3,000 fine to Bilbao Basket player

Dairis Bertāns Dairis Bertāns (born September 9, 1989) is a Latvian professional basketball player for Real Betis of the Spanish Liga ACB. Bertāns also plays for the Latvia national basketball team. He is the older brother of Dāvis Bertāns. Professional c ...

and to Baskonia brothers

Mamadou Mamadou is a common given name in West Africa among predominantly Muslim ethnic groups such as the Mandé and Wolof people. It is a variant of the Arabic name Muhammad. Academics *Mamadou Diouf (historian), Senegalese professor of West African hi ...

and

Ilimane Diop Ilimane Diop Gaye (born 4 April 1995) is a professional basketball player for UCAM Murcia in the Liga ACB. Although he was born in Senegal, Diop officially represents Spain when being on international duty since he was a baby when his family set ...

. On June 7, 2017, Shengelia signed a three-year contract extension with Baskonia. Over 33 EuroLeague games, he averaged career-highs of 13.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. In May 2018, he was named the

for the 2017–18 season. On 24 May 2018, he finished in second place behind

Luka Dončić Luka Dončić ( ; ; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the Slovenian national team. Born in Ljubljana, Dončić shone ...

in voting for the Liga ACB

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. On August 19, 2018, Shengelia signed a four-year contract extension with Baskonia until 2022.

CSKA Moscow (2020–2022)

On 9 July 2020, he signed a three-year contract with Russian club

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

. On 26 February 2022, Shengelia terminated the contract in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He said: "I take this decision in protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I do not consider it possible to continue playing for the Russian army club." The team accused him and others of violating their contracts; however, with Russia being suspended from the Euroleague and FIBA, CSKA cannot pursue any legal action.

Virtus Bologna (2022–present)

On 7 March 2022, Shengelia signed a deal with the Italian club

until the end of the season. Moreover, after having ousted Lietkabelis,

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

in the first three rounds of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, on 11 May 2022, Virtus defeated Frutti Extra Bursaspor by 80–67 at the Segafredo Arena, winning its first EuroCup and qualifying for the EuroLeague after 14 years. However, despite having ended the regular season at the first place and having ousted 3–0 both

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

and

Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. History ...

in the first two rounds of playoffs, Virtus was defeated 4–2 in the national finals by

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

. On 13 September, Shengelia signed a two-year-deal with Virtus until June 2024. On 29 September 2022, after having ousted Milano in the semifinals, Virtus won its third Supercup, defeating 72–69 Banco di Sardegna Sassari and achieving a back-to-back, following the 2021 trophy. However, Shengelia did not play due to a shoulder injury occurred before the 2022 EuroBasket.

National team career

Shengelia is a member of the senior Georgian national team. With Georgia, he played at the 2011 EuroBasket, the

2015 EuroBasket EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...

, and the

2017 EuroBasket EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

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, 17 , , 0 , , 8.1 , , .458 , , .000 , , .375 , , .8 , , .7 , , .1 , , .1 , , 1.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 9 , , 0 , , 1.9 , , .500 , , .000 , , .000 , , .2 , , .2 , , .1 , , .0 , , .4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 45 , , 0 , , 5.5 , , .451 , , .125 , , .500 , , .9 , , .4 , , .1 , , .1 , , 1.3

EuroLeague

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Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, 9 , , 9 , , 20.6 , , .500 , , .286 , , .682 , , 4.3 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .1 , , 8.3 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=6, Baskonia , 24 , , 23 , , 21.6 , , .439 , , .229 , , .820 , , 4.8 , , .8 , , .6 , , .7 , , 9.5 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 9 , , 7 , , 19.2 , , .561 , , .500 , , .682 , , 3.8 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , .6 , , 9.1 , , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , 24 , , 13 , , 20.8 , , .511 , , .542 , , .778 , , 4.1 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , .3 , , 10.8 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , 33 , , 17 , , 25.5 , , .569 , , .326 , , .681 , , 6.1 , , 2.2 , , .8 , , .5 , , 13.7 , , 18.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 20 , , 15 , , 24.2 , , .526 , , .393 , , .529 , , 4.3 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , 11.4 , , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , 28 , , 28 , , 30.2 , , .586 , , .391 , , .769 , , 5.6 , , 2.9 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , 15.9 , , 18.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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, 37 , , 35 , , 24.5 , , .508 , , .315 , , .651 , , 4.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 11.2 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , 15 , , 13 , , 24.4 , , .527 , , .333 , , .733 , , 4.7 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .3 , , 12.7 , , 14.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 197 , , 159 , , 24.2 , , .526 , , .365 , , .707 , , 4.9 , , 1.9 , , .9 , , .5 , , 12.0 , , 13.8