Santi Aldama

About

Santiago Aldama Toledo (born 10 January 2001) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named most valuable player (MVP) of the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship. Aldama played college basketball for the Loyola Greyhounds. He is the son of Spanish basketball player Santiago Aldama, an Olympian at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Aldama was brought up in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain. He started playing basketball at age three because his father, Santiago Aldama, and uncle, Santi Toledo, played the sport professionally. Aldama grew up idolizing basketball players Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Kobe Bryant.
Since his introduction to basketball, Aldama played for Canterbury Basketball Academy in Las Palmas and later chose to remain there, despite receiving offers from bigger clubs like FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Gran Canaria. At the 2017 Spanish Under-16 Championship, he averaged 18.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, playing for Canterbury alongside Oumar Ballo. He helped his team to a surprising third-place finish behind FC Barcelona and Real Madrid…