Winston Shepard III (born September 22, 1993) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He played college basketball for

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, where he was a two-time second-team All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

honoree.

High school career

Shepard attended

Findlay Prep Findlay Prep is a former high school basketball program located in Henderson, Nevada. The program was created in 2006 by local businessman Cliff Findlay, who owns several car dealerships in the Las Vegas area.Abramson, Mitch"Former Knick Jerome W ...

in Henderson, Nevada. As a senior, he led the team to a 32–1 record and No. 2 ranking by

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

. Findlay ended up winning the ESPNHS National High School Invitational title. He committed to

wanting "so bad," he said, to become the greatest recruit to ever sign with the school. 247Sports.com listed him as the 33rd best recruit in his class.

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, meanwhile, ranked Shepard as the 21st best player.

College career

Shepard was suspended the first three games of his freshman year due to receiving improper recruiting benefits. He admitted to not being fulling engaged while playing. His best game was an 18-point outing against

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

. As a freshman, Shepard averaged 5.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists in 20.3 minutes of play. Shepard was again suspended for one game in his sophomore season because he violated team rules. In the Aztecs' win over McNeese State on December 21, 2013, he scored seven straight points to ensure a victory. On December 28, he had a career-high 21 points in an 83-point rout of St. Katherine College. As a sophomore, Shepard averaged 11.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. He started 34 of the team's 36 games. Ben Estes of

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

wrote that "Shepard is able to do nearly everything, and that is especially true on defense, where his aptitude for matching up with almost any opposing player is a big boon to the Aztecs' swarming, stifling unit." Coming into his junior season, C.L. Brown of ESPN commented that "his outside shooting could keep him from being a potential All-American and Mountain West Player of the Year candidate." He was named second-team All-Mountain West as a junior. He led the team with 11.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Following the season, Shepard decided to turn down a possible selection in the 2015 NBA draft and return to school for his senior campaign. He claimed he needed to work on free throw shooting and finishing around the rim. "I have a chance to be part of something that can really, really be special, whatever special is," said Shepard of his decision to come back. In 37 games as a senior in 2015–16, Shepard averaged career highs with 11.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.

Professional career

Alba Fehérvár (2016–2017)

Shepard went undrafted at the 2016 NBA draft, but played in the

2016 NBA Summer League The 2016 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. Ten teams participated in the week- ...

with the Golden State Warriors. On August 28, 2016, Shepard signed with Hungarian team

Alba Fehérvár Alba Fehérvár are a Hungarian professional basketball club based in Székesfehérvár that compete Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the premier division of basketball in Hungary. Founded as the successor of Székesfehérvári MDSE, they took the Hungarian ...

. He helped the team win the

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup ( hu, Magyar Kupa) is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association, the ''Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség,'' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian ...

title and the

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignm ...

championship. In 43 league games, he averaged 11.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He also appeared in 12

FIBA Europe Cup The FIBA Europe Cup (FEC) is an annual professional club basketball competition organised by FIBA for eligible European clubs. It is FIBA's European-wide second level. Clubs mainly qualify for the competition based on their performance in natio ...

games, averaging 10.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Santa Cruz Warriors (2017–2018)

Shepard participated in the

2017 NBA Summer League The 2017 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. Eight teams participated in the wee ...

with the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

. On December 21, 2017, Shepard was acquired by the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior t ...

of the

NBA G 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 De ...

. In 19 games for the Warriors, he averaged 9.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Canterbury Rams (2018)

In April 2018, Shepard signed with the Canterbury Rams for the

2018 New Zealand NBL season The 2018 NBL season was the 37th season of the National Basketball League. In 2018, the league welcomed back the Manawatu Jets after a two-season hiatus. The regular season commenced on Thursday 26 April in Napier with the Hawke's Bay Hawks h ...

. He was named Player of the Week for Round 4. In 18 games, he averaged 18.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game.

Mornar / Maccabi Ashdod (2018)

On July 21, 2018, Shepard signed with Montenegrin team Mornar. He left Mornar before appearing in a game. On October 11, 2018, Shepard signed a one-month deal with Israeli team

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sport ...

as an injury cover for

Mark Tollefsen Mark Tollefsen (born November 21, 1992) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Maccabi Ashdod of the Israeli Premier League. He played college basketball for the University of San Francisco and University of Arizona bef ...

. In six games for Ashdod, he averaged 12 points, 5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

Westports Malaysia Dragons (2018–2020)

On December 6, 2018, Shepard signed with the

Westports Malaysia Dragons Kuala Lumpur Dragons is a professional basketball team based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that currently plays in the ASEAN Basketball League. It also played as the Blustar Detergent Dragons in the Philippines' PBA Developmental League in 2016. H ...

of the

ASEAN Basketball League The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is a professional men's basketball league in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong/Macau, which includes six teams from Southeast Asian nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), one tea ...

Rayos de Hermosillo (2020)

In March 2020, Shephard played four games in Mexico for Rayos de Hermosillo. The season was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. He averaged 18.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

Atomerőmű SE (2020–2021)

On June 30, 2020, Shepard signed with Atomerőmű SE of the Hungarian NB I/A.

Titanes del Distrito Nacional (2021)

In August 2021, Shepard had a five-game stint with Titanes del Distrito Nacional of the

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto (LNB) is the top men's professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic. Established in 2005, six teams compete annually between September and October. History The league was founded on September 6, 2004 a ...

BC Odesa (2021–2022)

Between December 2021 and February 2022, Shepard played in Ukraine for

BC Odesa BC Odesa ( uk, баскетбольний клуб "Одеса") is a Ukrainian professional basketball club based in Odesa. The club competed in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague (UBSL). Established in 1992, Odesa played in the SuperLeague ...

Southland Sharks (2022)

On May 6, 2022, Shepard signed with the

Southland Sharks The Southland Sharks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Invercargill. The Sharks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Stadium Southland. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the SBS Bank S ...

for the rest of the 2022 New Zealand NBL season.

Macau Black Bears (2023)

In January 2023, Shepard played one game for the Macau Black Bears in the 2023 ABL season.

FUS Rabat (2023)

In October 2023, Shepard made his debut for

FUS Rabat Fath Union Sport ( ar, اتحاد الفتح الرياضي), commonly called FUS or FUS Rabat, is a Moroccan professional football club based in Rabat and currently playing in the first division. The club was founded on 10 April 1946. 'Fath ...

of the

Division Excellence The Division Excellence (DEX-H) is the top professional basketball league in Morocco. Founded in 1957, the league currently consists of 16 teams. The league is administered by the Royal Moroccan Basketball Federation (FRMBB). The current defendin ...

. He also played for FUS in the

Road to BAL The Road to BAL, also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, are the qualifying tournaments of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The organization of the qualifiers is in hands of FIBA Africa. The first qualifying rounds were held on 16 October ...

tournament.

References

External links