Earlier than Santi Aldama grew to become a staple of the Memphis Grizzlies bench, he arrived in Tennessee as a shifty, under-the-radar 2021 first-round decide.
The primary response from followers of the franchise appeared like this:
“Aldama?” WHO?”
The ahead who performed school basketball for Loyola Maryland within the Patriot League was touted as a participant who had excelled on the worldwide stage and was nonetheless younger sufficient to take the following step towards NBA relevance.
Then Aldama confirmed up at FedExForum for the beginning of coaching camp.
“Yeah, he was trash,” Grizzlies star Desmond Bane stated bluntly.
So how the hell did we get so far, the place Aldama has slowly slipped into the NBA Sixth Man of the 12 months dialogue?
“That’s a great query,” Bane stated. “It truly is.”
