Paul Shirley, American basketball player and blogger
Paul Murphy Shirley (born December 23, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Unicaja Málaga in the Spanish ACB.
Shirley is noted for briefly maintaining an online journal (blog) while playing for the Phoenix Suns in 2004–05. His first journal dealt with a several-day-long road trip, while the second chronicled the Suns' NBA Playoffs run. He was later the author of a blog for ESPN.com entitled "My So-Called Career".Shirley was signed to a non-guaranteed contract by the Minnesota Timberwolves in early October 2006, but was cut in training camp before the start of the 2006–07 season. He finished his career in Spain, playing in the ACB for ViveMenorca and Unicaja Malaga.
After Shirley's playing career, he wrote a column for the Spanish newspaper El Pais, maintained a podcast (Short Corner) with Justin Halpern, and founded a writing group in Los Angeles called Writers Blok.Shirley's first book, Can I Keep My Jersey?, was released in 2007. His second book, Stories I Tell On Dates, came out October 17, 2017. His third book (and first novel), Ball Boy, was released in February 2021.