Alexey Shved leaves CSKA

The second arrival of the Shved in CSKA turned out to be individually bright. At the end of each of the two seasons, the basketball player became the best scorer of the team (13.6 points in the 2021-22 season, 16.6 in the 2022-23 season), set several club and league records. Unfortunately, injuries - a broken finger in the Game 7 of 2022 Finals and an ankle injury at the finish of the last regular season - prevented both Alexei and the whole team from winning the gold medals.

In total, the graduate of the Army Youth Project played eight seasons for the main team, 271 games, including 127 starts, scored more than 2,500 points and 600 assists, recorded many double-doubles and spectacular, memorable moments. Alexey is one of the most popular players in the modern era of Russian basketball. It is not in vain that from year to year he has invariably become one of the leaders in All-Star Games votings, and was recently chosen by fans in the All-CSKA post-Soviet team.

Andrey Vatutin, PBC CSKA President:

Let the past two seasons have not brought the desired result, but we will remember them as a very interesting and useful experience, and the emotions of regular season games and especially playoff series are unforgettable. We will continue to treat with gratitude and recognition those players who became part of this, especially the guys who were our leaders. Undoubtedly, Alexei Shved is in the forefront of such basketball players. I would like to say a sincere “thank you” to Alexey himself, his big family, as well as USM-Holding, which allowed us all to enjoy the game of one of the brightest European basketball players of our time. In August 2021, at the time of his signing, I spoke about the ambiguous attitude of the fans towards the return of Shved to CSKA, about the challenge that the player chose for himself. Now we can say that this move was worth any risk. We saw how positively the overwhelming majority of our fans accepted Alexei, we saw the support he received in a difficult period for himself. We felt the passion, enthusiasm, dedication to the results of the team that Shved had while playing for CSKA. Now it is very important for Alexei to fully recover from the consequences of the attack. I know that Shved is eager to return to the court, and I wish him good luck in the next stage of his career. I am sure that in the coming years we will continue to enjoy the brilliant game of a real star, our pupil and great friend.

Emil Rajkovic, CSKA head coach:

Alexey is probably the most talented player that I’ve ever coached. His understanding of basketball and love for the game are incomparable. The way he plays makes basketball look easy but we all know how much of a hard work are hidden behind it. I sincerely wish Alexey to keep the same fire inside him, to succeed on the next stage of his career and most importantly to stay healthy and happy in his family life.

Alexey Shved:

Thank you to PBC CSKA and all the fans for the last two seasons! Thanks you to Andrey Vatutin, Natasha Furaeva, Natasha Kuznetsova, all the guys from the club who were always there and helped a lot. Thank you to all the coaches, we had a great atmosphere within the team. Thank you to the players with whom we fought together on the floor and spent good time off the floor, we talked a lot and it was interesting. Together we have done a great job. I wish you all only the best, good luck and victories! I'll miss you!