As Loyola has grown over the years, so have their alumni. Former Loyola Maryland student-athlete Santi Aldama has become the first alumnus of the university to become an Olympian in basketball.
Aldama was a member of Loyola’s Men’s Basketball team from 2019 to 2021. His two seasons at Loyola, highlighted by an efficient sophomore season of 21.2 points per game on 51% field goal shooting paired with 10.1 rebounds per game, was good enough to garner attention from the NBA. He went on to be drafted in the first round with the 30th pick by the Memphis Grizzlies, via trade in 2021, becoming the first NBA first-round draft pick from Loyola University Maryland.
Now, as a top member of Spain’s national men’s basketball team, the 23-year-old has led his way to qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Spain went on to win every game they played in their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, booking their ticket to this year’s Olympics. Even more impressive, Santi Aldama won the Most Valuable Player Award for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament Spain. Aldama averaged 17 points and a team-leading eight rebounds in the four games played. The final 86-78 win against the Bahamas on July 7 was held in Valencia.
Ready to take on his first Olympic Games, we look back at Santi Aldama’s journey and how he became a part of the Loyola community, growing into the person that he is today.
Aldama had international experience prior to attending Loyola. Originally from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, he had been a member of the Spanish National Age-Group Teams since he was 14. Aldama was a member of Spain’s U-18 national team that won the FIBA U-18 European Championships in 2019, where he was named Most Valuable Player. This team also consisted of former Loyola forward Golden Dike ’23, who is from Málaga, Spain.
“It was very [prideful] for us. You win something for your team, you win something for your country. Even though it’s not the pros, you’re still representing Spain at some level,” Dike said.
Although Aldama had the ability to play professionally in Spain, his relationship with former Loyola assistant coach Ivo Simović prompted him to visit the evergreen campus, and ultimately led to him committing to the school.
Going to college in a different country, though, was a huge shift.
“It was [pretty] shocking, because Santi and I, we came from different places, but at the end of the day, the same culture over here in Spain, meaning school-wise, culture-wise, people, friendships, relationships, everything, we didn’t really know what it was [like] going to college in the United States,” Dike said.
He accredits Loyola’s welcoming environment towards making his experience great.
“I think our teammates and coaches made us learn fast [and] integrate ourselves into a new environment. We gave ourselves a chance, we were open-minded, we were trying to talk with a bunch of people … so I think that’s how we made it [easier] for ourselves … I love all the people over there, it was like a big family.”
As a seven-foot forward, Aldama’s agility and athleticism went a long way as a basketball player.
Former Loyola guard Kenny Jones ’22, spoke on his experience playing with Aldama.
“I’ve always been like a pass-first type point guard, and Santi, he can do it all. Seven [feet], can shoot, go end-to-end with the ball, score, defend, block shots. So I felt like me and him fit together very well, just being able to get him the ball and you know he can just score whenever he wanted,” Jones said.
Jones recalled a moment during the 2020-21 season where he, and those around him, knew that Aldama would go pro.
“During the season, he was averaging 20 and 10, so we all knew [the NBA] was a possibility. But then, I felt like [with] that Navy game in his sophomore year, I was like, ‘He really might go.’ And then we played Army and I don’t think he missed a shot and he had like 30, and I said, ‘Yeah he’s leaving … he’s not coming back, he’s going to the NBA,’” Jones said.
The aforementioned Navy and Army games were the 2021 Patriot League quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
When Loyola faced off against Army, Aldama knocked down 13 of his 15 shot attempts, finishing with 33 points and 12 rebounds, winning the game 67-63, and helping bring the Greyhounds to the conference championship. This game was the most efficient shooting night of his college career, a near-perfect game, missing only two shots.
Former Loyola guard Daraun Gray ‘23, remembered this game as a pivotal moment in Aldama’s career.
“I mean, I swear he didn’t miss. That was just him and Cam [Spencer], but he definitely took that game over. We all knew what Santi could do. It’s special, I mean he’s a pro at the end of the day. But I think that game showed everybody what he could really do and how good he really is,” Gray said.
In his sophomore season at Loyola, Santi Aldama led the Patriot League in total points, rebounds, and field goal percentage. He was elected to both the All-Patriot First Team and All-Patriot Tournament First Team.
Aldama went on to be drafted to the NBA in 2021 and play for the Memphis Grizzlies. After some play in his rookie year for the Grizzlies’ G-League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, he found his footing in the NBA during his sophomore campaign as a professional, averaging 9 points on 47% shooting in 2022-23. In the following season, 2023-24, he averaged 10.7 points and 5.8 rebounds, having an increased role on the team. He started more than half of the Grizzlies’ games in which he played. The Grizzlies this past June also drafted former Loyola guard Cam Spencer in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Now as a solidified NBA player, Aldama has the opportunity to represent his home country, Spain, in this year’s Paris Games. He is not the first in his family, though, to become an Olympian. His father, Santiago Aldama, was a part of Spain’s 1992 Olympic basketball team.
Growing up, Aldama looked up to those who highly represented his country in international play, such as the Gasol brothers, Pau and Marc. The Spanish centers were NBA stars, of which Pau is a Hall of Famer, and have eight combined Olympic appearances. According to the NBA, Aldama looked up to Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant, who were teammates on the Lakers from 2008 to 2014, and Marc Gasol also recently had his number retired by the Grizzlies, Aldama’s current NBA team.
Aldama has reached this height in his career not just for his playing, but also because of the important traits he carries with him, on and off the court.
Gray detailed his close relationship with Aldama and how he feels like family. He also spoke on the character he holds and how proud he was of Aldama’s drafting and Olympic accomplishments.
“Santi’s a great guy, I mean, that’s one of my brothers at the end of the day. He’s someone that has always looked out for me, I’ve always looked out for him. And even to this day, like he’ll still call me … and he doesn’t have to do that … he’s in the NBA.”
Jones was reflective as he thought about what separates Aldama from others in athleticism and character.
“Santi was always in the gym, he was a very hard worker. Like we watched him become a pro in front of our eyes. Outside of the court, he was good in his classes, [I] had a few classes with him, no problems there. He was very focused, and you know he just wanted to win,” Jones said.
It was clear to those around Aldama on Loyola’s campus that his work ethic was vastly higher than everyone else’s, even when faced with adversity.
Loyola Basketball Assistant Coach Kevin Farrell ‘12 said, “[Aldama] had a little unluckiness just with injury stuff while he was here, but never let that affect him or his work ethic and trying to get better every day.”
Additionally, he acknowledged Aldama’s dedication to training and strengthening each day during rehabilitation. Farrell worked as Director of Basketball Operations from 2012 to 2021 at Loyola.
“I know he worked incredibly hard to get back and play his freshman season at all. I’m sure there are a lot of guys who probably would’ve just elected to try to redshirt and sit that whole season, and that just wasn’t his mindset,” Farrell said.
Aldama is the first student-athlete from Loyola Maryland to become an Olympian for basketball, an incredible achievement for himself, for Loyola, and for the school’s basketball program.
“It’s good for Loyola’s history, to look back and say we had somebody go to Loyola, have good grades and good academics, and achieve something so great, something for other athletes to look up to, to also want to achieve that,” Jones said.
“I think it speaks to what our school is about. It’s that you can be great in everything you do. We’re a great academic school, but that doesn’t mean that’s gonna hold you back from being successful and reaching your professional goals as a basketball player,” Farrell said.
Gray believes it is huge to show that players can go professional from the Patriot League.
“I think there’s always been a thing, like you got to be at the Dukes, you got to be at the UNCs, you got to be in the ACC to make it out, but if you got tools and you can really dominate, then you can make it out of the Patriot League,” Gray said.
Farrell believes it is a huge honor for Aldama to become an Olympian and is very impressed by him.
“It’s very rare that you get to represent your country in anything you do athletically. Hopefully with him being as young as he is, [he’ll be] able to do it for two or three or four Olympics.”
In past Olympics, Spain has challenged the toughest competition in basketball, earning silver medals in 2008 and 2012 and a bronze medal in 2016.
In this year’s Olympic Games, Spain once again enters a pool of intense competition.
Basketball over the past decades has grown significantly on an international level. Every country that qualified this year has NBA talent on their roster, making this Olympic competition arguably the closest it has ever been.
The 12 countries that qualified for Olympic basketball have been assigned into three groups.
Group A: Australia, Greece, Canada, and Spain.
Group B: France, Germany, Japan, and Brazil.
Group C: Serbia, South Sudan, Puerto Rico, and the United States.
Olympic basketball starts on July 27, with Spain going up against Australia. Make sure to tune in to support our Loyola community and watch Aldama represent his home country in the Olympic games. Spain will also play on July 30 versus Greece and on Aug. 2 against Canada.
For some players, it is their first time playing in a tournament of this magnitude. For others, the Olympics is something they are used to. But every country has the same goal in mind, a gold medal, and only one will get it.
