Philadelphia 76ers: Who is Shake Milton and where did he come from?!
Shake went absolutely HAM against the Clippers on Sunday in just his 12th career start. Milton exploded in front of a national TV audience as he shot 14-of-20 from the field – 10-of-11 in the first half alone – and 7-of-9 from beyond the arc.
In the process Shake equaled an NBA record for most consecutive three-pointers made (13) which he achieved over a span of 3 games, beginning with their game against the Cavaliers on February 26.
“He did his G League duties. He comes in, he sits on the bench and swings a towel
Milton was in the team due to injuries to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. A first half injury to Josh Richardson meant the Sixers needed to go deep in their rotation to look for contributors and up stepped the second-year guard.
“He did his G League duties. He comes in, he sits on the bench and swings a towel. Now, in March, he’s the starting point guard on a pretty good team…It’s a hell of a story,” Sixers head coach Brett Brown said following Shake’s 39-point performance against the Clippers.
‘My Milkshake Milton brings all the boys to the yard, and they’re like, it’s better than yours’…OK that was shocking and I don’t know what impulsed me to do that so I apologize. Anyway, how did he get the nickname Shake?
Malik Benjamin “Shake” Milton’s nickname is linked to his late father Myron. Myron was nicknamed the ‘Milk Man’ when growing up as others assumed he drank lots of milk as to why he grew so quick.
When Shake’s mother Lisa was pregnant with Malik, a friend touched her pregnant belly and said “how is little Shake doing?”, as she tells it to NBC Sports Philadelphia, and the rest is history.
Shake was selected in the second round (Pick #54) in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Mavericks. They traded him to the Sixers for the rights to the #56 and #60 picks, Ray Spalding and Kostas Antetokounmpo respectively.
The Sixers would then sign Shake to a two-way contract splitting time with G-League affiliate Delaware Blue Coats where he averaged 24.9 points and 4.9 in both rebounds and assists through 27 games. It was good enough to be rewarded with a four-year deal with Philadelphia at the beginning of free agency.
Fascinatingly last January Shake became the 25th player in NBA history to play in both an NBA game and an NBA G League game on the same day, playing a combined 57 minutes of NBA and G-League basketball as a rookie.
On January 8, 2019, Shake would face off for the Delaware Blue Coats against the Raptors 905. Beginning at 11am, he dropped 33 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds in 37 minutes of basketball.
Following an injury, Shake was a late call up, backing up his earlier game with another at 7pm, playing 20 minutes with the 76ers against the Wizards, tallying 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Milton hit new heights on national TV following his career high 39-points against the Clippers. It should be no surprise to those that have watched him shoot 43% from deep during three seasons with Southern Methodist University.
Many will be watching Shake closely as he hopes to prove that he’s no ordinary second-round pick and that he can be a real star in the NBA.
The Steem blockchain is currently being attacked by a central authority in order to take control of the witnesses. If you are not managing your witness votes, please consider setting @berniesanders as your witness voting proxy by clicking here to help restore the decentralization of Steem.