Max Shulga
Ukrainian basketball player (born 2002)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maksym Shulga (Ukrainian: Максим Шульга; born June 25, 2002) is a Ukrainian professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Maine Celtics of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Utah State Aggies and the VCU Rams. In the 2025 NBA draft, he was selected with the 57th overall pick by the Orlando Magic.
Shulga in 2021 | |
| No. 44 – Boston Celtics | |
|---|---|
| Position | Shooting guard / point guard |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | June 25, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Basketball School of Excellence (Torrelodones, Spain) |
| College |
|
| NBA draft | 2025: 2nd round, 57th overall pick |
| Drafted by | Orlando Magic |
| Playing career | 2025–present |
| Career history | |
| 2025–present | Boston Celtics |
| 2025–present | →Maine Celtics |
| Career highlights | |
| |
| Stats at NBA.com | |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
Early life and education
Shulga was born and grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine.[1] He moved to Spain at age 11 to study and play basketball in Colegio Leones in León. At age 14 he moved to Madrid to attend the Basketball School of Excellence in Torrelodones.[2] Shulga committed to play college basketball in the United States at Utah State.[3]
College career
Utah State
Shulga began his college career at Utah State.[4] He was named honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference as a junior after averaging 11.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and four assists per game.[2] After the season and the departure of Aggies' head coach Ryan Odom, he entered the NCAA transfer portal.[5]
VCU
Shulga transferred to VCU, following Odom.[6] He was named first-team All-Atlantic 10 Conference in his first season with the Rams after averaging 14 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.[7] Shulga re-entered the transfer portal at the end of the season and initially committed to transfer to Villanova, but ultimately decommitted and returned to VCU.[8]
In his final year at VCU, Shulga averaged a career-high 15 points, 5.9 rebounds, and four assists per game.[9] Shulga led the Rams to both the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and Atlantic 10 tournament championships, winning the 2025 A-10 tournament title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. They won 18 of their final 20 games en route to a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they lost to No. 6 seed BYU in the first round.[10]
Professional career
Shulga was one of 75 players invited to the 2025 NBA draft combine in May 2025.[11] He was selected with the 57th overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic,[12] and his rights were then traded to the Boston Celtics.[13] On August 7, 2025, Boston Celtics signed Shulga to two-way contract.[14] He was assigned to the Celtics' NBA G League team the Maine Celtics to start the season.[15] On February 4, 2026, Shulga logged about 2 minutes of playing time for the first time in his NBA career, in a 114-93 victory over the Houston Rockets.[16]
Career statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
College
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Utah State | 23 | 0 | 6.8 | .342 | .300 | .833 | 1.8 | .3 | .4 | .0 | 1.6 |
| 2021–22 | Utah State | 32 | 2 | 13.7 | .512 | .450 | .776 | 2.1 | 1.0 | .7 | .1 | 4.4 |
| 2022–23 | Utah State | 35 | 35 | 31.1 | .428 | .364 | .824 | 4.5 | 4.0 | .7 | .3 | 11.9 |
| 2023–24 | VCU | 37 | 37 | 32.8 | .446 | .415 | .876 | 4.6 | 3.6 | .9 | .3 | 14.0 |
| 2024–25 | VCU | 35 | 35 | 32.8 | .435 | .387 | .783 | 5.9 | 4.0 | 1.8 | .1 | 15.0 |
| Career | 162 | 109 | 25.0 | .439 | .392 | .821 | 4.0 | 2.8 | .9 | .2 | 10.1 | |