Shawn's family immigrated from Guyana to Brooklyn in 1991 when he was eight years old along with his seven siblings. He fell in love with the game watching the Knicks and Bulls battle, but he never played organized basketball until he went to prep school. He went on to receive a college scholarship to Northeastern and transferred to Duquesne to finish his career. From there he began an illustrious overseas career and became a EuroLeague champion and 3x Israeli League champ with Maccabi Tel Aviv!