The EuroLeague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament has developed into one of the world's most prestigious stops for future stars in basketball. From 2003 onwards, more and more players have used the ANGT to showcase their talents at a young age and gain experience in international club competition. One player who gave fans a taste of his future success in the ANGT is Alexey Shved, who guided U18 CSKA Moscow to the title in 2006 in Prague. Shved's performance helped CSKA finish a run of three consecutive ANGT crowns. Shved averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.3 steals in the tournament as he showed Europe more than just a glimpse of his future stardom.
At the ANGT Finals in Prague, Shved started the tournament with 18 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in an 84-60 victory over U18 Cibona Zagreb. He went for 14 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals next in an 84-61 win against U18 Prague 2006. In the final game of the group stage, Shved collected 21 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, but those numbers were not enough as CSKA lost 89-87 to U18 Montepaschi Siena. CSKA, Cibona and Montepaschi all had 2-1 records, however, Shved and the two-time reigning champion advanced to the ANGT Championship Game via tiebreaker. In the title bout, Shved struggled shooting against U18 Zalgiris Kaunas, hitting just 1 of 14 shots and missing both of his free-throw tries to finish with 3 points, but he amassed 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks in leading CSKA to a 59-55 victory to complete the Moscow team’s ANGT three-peat.
That was not the last time Shved would accomplish great things. He made his professional debut the following season with CSKA and debuted in the EuroLeague on January 17, 2007, playing 2:15 minutes against Zalgiris Kaunas just a month after turning 19 years old. Shved appeared in eight EuroLeague games in 2007-08, averaging 2.8 points for a CSKA team that won the EuroLeague crown. His role grew slightly over the following seasons - more in domestic league play than in the EuroLeague, where he got into 12 games for CSKA from 2008-09 to 2010-11. Shved also played for Dynamo Moscow during the 2009-10 campaign, where he averaged 11.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in four EuroCup games. Shved finally broke out for CSKA in 2011-12 with 10.6 points and 3.0 assists in helping CSKA reach the 2012 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game, which the team lost in the final seconds to Olympiacos Piraeus. Shved spent the next three seasons in the NBA - 2012-13 and 2013-14 with Minnesota and then 2014-15 with Philadelphia, Houston and New York.
Shved returned to Europe in 2015 and signed with Khimki Moscow Region, with which he scored 15.9 points per game in the EuroLeague to rank fourth in the competition. Khimki played in the EuroCup for 2016-17 and Shved carried the team to the quarterfinals, where it lost to Valencia Basket. Shved led the EuroCup in scoring (22.1 ppg) and index rating (22) in addition to averages of 5.2 assists and 1.2 steals. Those numbers helped him to head the All-EuroCup First Team as league MVP. He built upon his EuroCup dominance as he won the 2017-18 EuroLeague Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy with 21.8 ppg while also getting chosen to the All-EuroLeague Second Team. Shved fueled Khimki’s run to the EuroLeague Playoffs where it lost to crosstown rival CSKA in four games. Shved was slowed down by an injury in 2018-19, but when healthy he averaged 23.3 points, 6.6 assists and 1.6 steals. He would have won the scoring crown again had he met the minimum games player requirement. Shved also would have finished second in assists and fourth in steals. Shved’s outstanding play continued in the 2019-20 season with 21.4 points and 6.7 assists for Khimki, which was fighting for a spot in the playoffs before the season was called off due to COVID-19. Shved was second in scoring and third in assists at that point, making it clear to all that he is still one of the most dominant players in European basketball.