{"id":195987,"date":"2026-05-18T17:18:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=195987"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:18:51","slug":"santi-aldama-glue-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/05\/18\/santi-aldama-glue-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Santi Aldama Perfectly Fits The Memphis Grizzlies’ Rebuild Glue Guy Role"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Memphis Grizzlies enter a similar roster rebuild to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs, the two teams in the Western Conference Finals<\/a>, figuring out their core is most important. A key piece of the core is acknowledging a glue guy. The Grizzlies’ rebuild glue guy may already be on the roster, as Santi Aldama<\/a> has shown why his versatility makes him an ideal long-term piece for Memphis. His role fits similarly to Keldon Johnson<\/a> from the Spurs.<\/p>\n

While Aldama may never become the face of the Grizzlies, every successful rebuild needs players who help connect the dots. For the Memphis Grizzlies<\/span><\/span>, their next phase will not only depend on star talent or draft picks. It will also depend on finding players who can survive roster changes and complement the new young core, and Aldama is positioned to become that type of player.<\/p>\n

Why Santi Aldama Perfectly Fits The Memphis Grizzlies’ Rebuild Glue Guy Role<\/h2>\n

Keldon Johnson Shows Why Every Rebuild Needs A Glue Guy<\/h3>\n

When the Spurs drafted Johnson in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft, they were transitioning to a rebuild after 22 consecutive years of at least 47 wins and playoff appearances. Johnson had to endure six straight losing seasons while alternating roles between being a starter and coming off the bench while they figured out their plan. However, by the time they reached winning status again this season, Johnson remained on board as their glue guy.<\/p>\n

One reason the glue guy role matters so much is that teams around the league have already demonstrated its value, with the clearest recent example being Johnson with the Spurs. He took on their role as the sixth man in 2023, and while that led to a deduction in his 22 points per game average from the previous season, he was awarded<\/a> the Sixth Man of the Year award this season on better efficiency.<\/p>\n

While he may not receive superstar attention alongside players like Victor Wembanyama<\/span><\/span><\/a>, his importance to the Spurs was on display throughout their successful season. Johnson helped bridge multiple stages of the rebuild by accepting changing responsibilities and adapting to different roster constructions. Some nights he scored heavily, while other nights he simply brought an energy boost.<\/p>\n

That is the type of role Aldama could realistically grow into for Memphis, as one of the longest tenured players with similarities to Johnson’s role.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Santi Aldama\u2019s Versatility Fits Memphis Perfectly<\/h3>\n

The Grizzlies’ glue guy feels like a perfect fit for someone of Aldama’s caliber. After being slotted at third overall<\/a> in the NBA Draft Lottery, Memphis is in the driver’s seat to select a power forward to replace Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> Due to that being the same position as Aldama, he will likely remain in his sixth man role, which saw him in the running for that award just two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

Like Johnson, Aldama can stretch the floor, move the ball, and play within different offensive systems. Also, he has mostly played that role throughout his five-year career in Memphis. Those traits become extremely valuable during rebuilds because young rosters often need connective players who understand their role and have had success thriving in it.<\/p>\n

Another reason Aldama fits Memphis’ glue guy role is his positional flexibility and willingness to evolve. Over the last several seasons, Aldama has filled multiple responsibilities for Memphis. He has started games at small forward, power forward, and center, and even handled secondary playmaking duties in certain lineups. Their current coach, Tuomas Iisalo, especially trusted Aldama this season before injuries ended it prematurely.<\/p>\n

While a starting role is still on the table<\/a> for Aldama, depending on how the draft board shakes out at picks one and two, his value as a multi-positional sixth man is priceless for the rebuilding Grizzlies. He has developed within Memphis\u2019 system, experienced playoff basketball, and survived both successful and difficult seasons. That is why Aldama may ultimately become one of the most important long-term pieces as the Grizzlies’ rebuild glue guy.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Memphis Grizzlies enter a similar roster rebuild to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs, the two teams in the Western Conference Finals, figuring out their core is most important. A key piece of the core is acknowledging a glue guy. The Grizzlies’ rebuild glue guy may already be on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5763,"featured_media":196015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,32,62],"tags":[1948,1972,49042],"class_list":["post-195987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-grizzlies","category-nba","tag-jaren-jackson-jr","tag-keldon-johnson","tag-santi-aldama"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195987"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196016,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195987\/revisions\/196016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}