An office phone rings, the news breaks, and a season’s trajectory shifts in an instant. For Tuomas Iisalo's regrouping Memphis Grizzlies, the summer of 2025 was a chorus of such alerts, each one carrying a blow to the rotations. Turf toe surgery for All-Star Jaren Jackson Jr.. A re-aggravated ankle for promising rookie Zach Edey. Lingering knee issue for the relentless Brandon Clarke. It all adds up to Santi Aldama's Spanish flair having more influence on the team's identity to start the season. EVP/GM Zach Kleiman made a significant bet that kind of fallback plan would pay off earlier this summer for a reason.
Zach Edey underwent surgery in June to address laxity in his left ankle and, as of September 26, is expected to be out for six to nine weeks. Jaren Jackson Jr. had a procedure in July for a turf toe injury and is expected to return in four to six weeks. The best-case scenario for both is being cleared around October 24. Brandon Clarke, who recovered from a PCL sprain that ended his 2024-25 season, will undergo an arthroscopic procedure for knee synovitis and will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
These setbacks expose a now relatively thin frontcourt and leave little time to find reinforcements. The Grizzlies host Bam Adebayo's Miami Heat on October 24 in what will be the second regular-season game for each squad; Memphis must deal with Zion Williamson's New Orleans Pelicans on NBA Opening Night. An immediate responsibility to produce as the best second option available next to Ja Morant will fall on Aldama. By all accounts, he seems up for the challenge after leading the Spanish National Team this summer.
Santi Aldama is a solid anchor
Aldama is coming off his most productive season, averaging 12.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. His importance to the future was signaled in June when he signed a three-year, $52.5 million contract extension with the Grizzlies. Aldama has shown flashes of being able to handle a larger load, most notably against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of a first-round sweep (23 points, nine rebounds, three assists).
That elimination game performance was both efficient and fearless. It was a glimpse of a player not just comfortable on the big stage, but hungry for it. With Edey, Jackson Jr., and Clarke out, Aldama is likely to see a significant bump in minutes, potentially starting at power forward or center in some funky Grizzlies lineups. Ja Morant, Jaylen Wells, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Aldama, and Jock Landale should be able to keep games competitive, for example.
Bring Ty Jerome off the bench for Landale and move Aldama to the five at the first break. Iisalo will likely give GG Jackson or PJ Hall once Aldama is done. Still, the first 10 games are the best time to see just how much Aldama can handle the extra defensive workload and increase in Usage Rate. The glimpses of a star who can put the ball on the deck for a graceful drive and make the clever extra pass have always been obvious.
Santi Aldama was, in many ways, the perfect modern complementary player, but complementary is a privilege a team loses when its pillars are crumbling. If Aldama steps up and provides All-Star-level contributions while the other bigs are out, EVP/GM Zach Kleiman will look like a genius. Ty Jerome is arguably better than Desmond Bane as it is. Keeping a homegrown seven-foot sharpshooter on a team-friendly deal is wonderful business. However, if Aldama crumbles in an Alpha role, this whole house of cards could fall apart.
The 7-foot Spaniard is no longer a prospect hiding in plain sight. The graceful forward with the soft shooting touch and an understated game now finds himself at the center of the Grizzlies’ universe. The luxury of development time is over. With the frontcourt decimated before a single official tip-off, Aldama’s moment has arrived not by design, but by necessity. The question is not whether Aldama has the talent but rather if he can consistently deliver under the microscope of make-or-break top-four seed expectations.
Even once everyone is healthy, Santi Aldama is not simply filling a gap; he is helping to define a new era. His versatility is perhaps Iisalo’s greatest rotational asset. Can the 24-year-old be the floor-spacing four that opens the lane for Ja Morant’s electrifying drives? Can the biggest kid from the Canary Islands hold his own as a small-ball five, leveraging his mobility against bigger, slower NBA centers? The Grizzlies will need the greatest prospect from Las Palmas to do all of this, and more, to make any early headway in the Western Conference standings.
