UPDATE: Terrence Shannon Jr. discusses court case, NBA future

May 14—CHICAGO — The first media session Tuesday morning at the 2024 NBA draft combine featured some of the biggest names in the sport.

A national champion in Connecticut's Donovan Clingan spoke with reporters. A back-to-back National Player of the Year in Purdue's Zach Edey did the same. And the presumptive favorite to be the No. 1 pick come late June in French big man Alexandre Sarr also answered questions.

The biggest media crowd as that first session began? That would be the one that crowded around the table where Terrence Shannon Jr. sat just inside one of the hotel ballrooms at the Marriott Marquis.

Shannon had the local pull as a Chicago native and Lincoln Park graduate that just finished his college career as an All-American at Illinois. But the fact Shannon was available to speak with the media for the first time in nearly five months amplified the interest.

Shannon's pursuit of an NBA future was secondary early in the nearly 25 minutes he spent fielding questions during the first media session of the morning. The former Illinois guard is facing a rape charge in Lawrence, Kan., and will go to trial in Douglas County (Kan.) District Court starting June 10.

Unavailable to the media on the advice of legal counsel since Illinois' Braggin' Rights win against Missouri on Dec. 22 — a date Shannon knew without prompting — Shannon answered the questions he could about the continued crossover between his legal situation and basketball.

"I have the trial June 10," Shannon said. "I can't really talk much about it, but I'm looking forward to my day in court. ... I'm fine, perfectly fine, mentally. I'm controlling the things I can control, and that's handling things day to day and putting the work in and getting ready for my dream to play in the NBA."

Shannon was arrested on the rape charge in late December following an alleged incident in early September in Lawrence. Initially suspended by Illinois — an automatic move dictated by UI's student conduct policy — Shannon filed a lawsuit against the university in a move to reverse the suspension.

"At that moment I didn't know," Shannon said about the idea of playing again last season. "It was all new to me. I didn't know."

Shannon ultimately served a six-game suspension before it was reversed by a federal judge. He returned immediately to the court and finished his final season at Illinois as an All-Big Ten First-Team selection in addition to his All-American honors and set the single-season scoring record at Illinois.

All with his legal situation still in flux. Shannon appeared in Douglas County District Court on Friday for a preliminary hearing and was bound over for trial. A pretrial conference is set for May 31, and a four-day window was blocked off from June 10-13 for the trial.

"Obviously, it's a real serious accusation, and I'm aware of that," Shannon said. "I can't go much in detail about it, but I'm just focused on what I can control and that's basketball and what I do on the court and in the weight room."

Shannon didn't participate in Monday's workouts and shooting drills at the combine after tweaking his hamstring during his pre-draft training in Los Angeles. He said he would be able to fully participate the rest of the week in Chicago, which will include his first conversations with NBA organizations in this draft cycle.

"I know they'll ask me questions about (the court case)," Shannon said. "I just can't go into much detail about it. Just explain the kind of person I am. I feel like I'm a good kid. Funny. I make sure everybody's good. I just take care of everybody around me."

Shannon played in several visiting arenas after returning to action in January filled with fans that didn't share that opinion. The Jan. 24 game at Northwestern was his first away from State Farm Center, and fans at Welsh-Ryan Arena chanted "No means no!" and "Guilty!" — among others — with Shannon at the free-throw line.

"I just feel like with things like that, you've got to let your game speak for itself," Shannon said. "There's going to be distractions everywhere — no matter if you've got something going on our not. You've just got to learn how to tune everything out and focus on the games.

"Everybody's going to have your opinion on you. You can't let other peoples' opinions affect you."

Shannon said he leaned on his family, friends, teammates and coaches the last five months. Keeping the right people in his corner, he added, was important as he dealt with both the uncertainty of his case and the final 21 games of the Illinois season, which included a Big Ten tournament title and a run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament.

"My teammates, my coaches, my family, they've been there for me," Shannon said. "As they've always been. If I ever needed anything, needed to talk, they were there. And they'll always be there. I'm thankful for that."