‘Basketball Is My Life’: Santi Aldama Posts 8 Points, 9 Rebounds In Dallas Mavericks Debut Against Utah Jazz

DALLAS — Santi Aldama had not practiced with Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving, or P.J. Washington before Friday night. In his first NBA game in nine months, he finished with 8 points and 9 rebounds in 13 minutes, 3 seconds as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz 112-100 at American Airlines Center.

Four of Aldama’s rebounds came on the offensive end, and he went 4-of-5 at the free-throw line. Dallas was plus-17 in his minutes. The win snapped a two-game losing streak and moved the Mavericks to 5-4.

Aldama’s last game before Friday came Feb. 4 with the Memphis Grizzlies. On March 17, he had an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee. Dallas acquired him in a six-team trade on July 8, and he sat out all four preseason games and the first eight games of the regular season.

Walking around the city, Aldama felt how excited people were to have him back.

“Very, very. Anytime I get to watch an NBA game and [not] play in it, it’s really tough,” Aldama said. “But I really felt the love from them today. Obviously, but just walking around the city, everybody was just excited to have me back. And that means a lot to me because basketball is my life. And yeah, just getting to do that tonight was very special.”

Santi Aldama Checks In Trailing 40-35 In The Second Quarter

Aldama checked in with 8:03 left in the second quarter and Dallas trailing 40-35. Thirty-four seconds later, he tipped in a missed Walter Clayton Jr. 3-pointer for his first points as a Maverick. On the next trip, his pass set up a Washington 3-pointer that cut Utah’s lead to 42-40.

Dallas outscored Utah 19-9 in the second quarter with Aldama on the floor. In the third quarter, he scored on a cutting layup off a Clayton pass that made it 83-73. Utah unsuccessfully challenged a foul on Brice Sensabaugh 21 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Aldama made all three free throws for a 92-76 lead.

Before Friday, Aldama had done walkthroughs with the second unit, but not with the first.

“Just honestly happy to be out there,” Aldama explained. “It just felt so good to feel the energy of an NBA game and just be out there. But yeah, just trying to impact the game as soon as I got there.”

“I haven’t even, like, practiced with these guys, like Coop, Kai, P.J. I’ve done some walkthrough with the second unit, but not the first,” Aldama continued. “So I’m like, the only way where we can find some common ground is playing hard, and just credit to them just making me feel welcome. We don’t have, quote unquote, chemistry because we’ve never been together, and it just seemed seamless for me. So it was just an amazing experience. I’m really high right now.”

Mavericks coaches and staff made their instructions very clear, in Aldama’s view, and that got everybody on the same page.

“I think coach, coaches, staff do a great job of making instructions very clear and kind of get us all on the same page. And then them, I think everybody just wants to win,” Aldama said. “So we’re just, again, maybe we haven’t played together. We don’t know what anybody does together in that specific moment, but like, we all want to win. So we’re trying to get the best available shot, get every rebound. Like, we’re just playing hard.”

“And when you play hard, it overrides a lot of mistakes that may have happened,” Aldama added. “But like I said, I think when we got those spurts, so when we just got those moments where we went on runs, I think it was just basically us playing harder.”

Dusty May, Santi Aldama On What Stood Out

Before tip-off, Mavericks coach Dusty May said Aldama’s workload would be an in-game decision. Afterward, May said the staff had seen Aldama with Dallas’ two-way players and in the video room, but not with the regular rotation.

“We had a gut feel. We hadn’t really seen Santi play with our guys yet,” May said. “He’s played with the two-ways and the video room and things like that. And even today in shootaround … I just looked out and thought, wow, everything looks a little bit better with Santi because he’s such a good cutter.”

“He’s such a good decision maker. He stretches the defense with the spacing, so he’s just one of those guys that he’s an elite connector, but he’s also a good decision maker with the ball in his hands,” May detailed. “And I thought he guarded well tonight, in addition to that.”

From the bench, what stood out to Aldama was the selflessness. Dallas has also communicated better over the last few weeks, he said.

“I think the selflessness and just everybody wants to win. Like, I know I’ve said it a couple times, but that’s really something that stuck out,” Aldama said. “Like regardless, like some days some guys score more points or less points, or some guys have a hotter hand, whatever it may be. We all want to win, so we just find the open guy. We just play hard. We talk to each other.”

“I think these last few weeks we’ve done a better job of being able to communicate frankly … So yeah, I think we have a great group of guys, great group of basketball players,” Aldama noted. “And when you have that, and obviously great guys like Coop and Kai, it just makes it so much easier.”

Utah drafted Aldama 30th overall in 2021 and traded his rights to Memphis on draft night. Dallas hosts the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday at American Airlines Center, with tip-off set for 6:30 p.m. CT.