Net gains: Santi Aldama’s play once was ‘trash.’ Now the Grizzlies love it.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama celebrates during action against the Orlando Magic on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Before Santi Aldama surged to become a critical part of the Memphis Grizzlies bench, he arrived in Tennessee as a sneaky, under-the-radar first-round draft pick in 2021.
The initial reaction from the franchise’s fans sounded something like this:
“Aldama? Who?”
The forward who played his college basketball for Loyola Maryland in the Patriot League was billed as a player who had excelled at the international level and was still young enough to take the next step toward NBA relevancy.
Then Aldama showed up at FedExForum for the start of training camp.
“Yeah, he was trash,” Grizzlies star Desmond Bane put it bluntly.
So how the heck did we get to this point, where Aldama has slowly crept into the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year discussion?
“It’s a good question,” Bane said. “It really is.”
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Drew Hill
Drew Hill covers the Memphis Grizzlies and is a top-10 APSE winner. He has worked throughout the South writing about college athletics before landing in Memphis.
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