Can I Keep My Jersey? by Paul Shirley follows along the highs and lows of Paul Shirley’s career in the NBA. Though I haven’t quite finished this book yet, I plan to, which is kind of a big deal for me. When I first sat down to read this book, (yesterday) I figured that I would just skim through the pages and try to understand what was happening. However, after relating to the very first sentence in the book, I continued to read every word. This book surprisingly piqued my interest. I found that Paul Shirley is quite a jokester and even makes fun of himself and his failures, which is something that I often do as well. 

This book is essentially made up of a journal that Shirley kept throughout his professional basketball career. Starting with an introduction to tell how he got to where he was at and then breaking up the book into 3 sections, outlining his 3 years of playing in the NBA. 

Though I was far far away from playing in the WNBA I can somewhat relate to Shirley’s experiences, and I believe that any person who has ever had a passion for the game of basketball, or any sport, could. I played basketball for 7 and a half years until my time was cut short during my senior year of high school. As a kid, I always thought I would be playing basketball in college until I was in a car accident that changed the way my life went.

In this book, Shirley has so many ups and downs. This book shows how difficult it is to play in the NBA and how a great player can’t always compete when the teams are only looking for phenomenal players. Shirley admits in this book multiple times that a white man from a small town in Kansas is not always attractive to teams. 

Shirley starts his first year with the Atlanta Hawks. Though, he doesn’t make it to post-season play, only pre-season training camp, before he was kicked off the team, with nothing to show for it. Not even his jersey. He continues his first year hopping between the NBA and the CBA (Continental Basketball Association). The CBA is not at all where Shirley wants to be, as it is the minor league that nobody pays attention to, and the teams are located in the most boring cities in the US, according to Shirley. Within his first year, Shirley also takes a trip to both Greece and Spain, playing for international teams. Which he says is better than the CBA, but it’s still not the NBA, where he ultimately wants to be. 

At the end of year 1, Shirley suffers an injury that forces him to rest both his body and his brain. However, year 2 starts with another chance at the NBA, as he is invited to the New Orleans Hornets training camp. 

This book is written by Shirley from a first-person perspective. Throughout his entire journey, Shirley had been on 11 teams and played in 5 different countries. This all happened in the span of 4 years. 

To my surprise, I have enjoyed reading this story, because of the constant turn of events. I realized that just skimming through this book wasn’t even really an option, because I would miss an important detail. Another thing that kept me entertained while reading this book was all of the smart-ass remarks made by Shirley himself. He doesn’t have much of a filter, which I can relate to. He often makes fun of himself, other players, or just random people he meets along the way. This book both gave me information about NBA basketball, as well as made me grin along the way.