30 Intriguing Facts Every Fan Should Know About LaMarcus Aldridge

6 May 2019, 5:42 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

LaMarcus Aldridge, currently playing for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA), is world renowned for his signature fadeaway jump shot. He is a seven time NBA All-Star and has been selected to five All-NBA teams. Here are some unique facts about the American professional basketball player:

He was born LaMarcus Nurae Aldridge on July 19, 1985, in Dallas, Texas, to Georgia and Marvin Aldridge. He has an older brother, LaVontae Aldridge.
Aldridge grew up as football fan and rooted for the hometown Cowboys, but basketball was the family game. His father Marvin was high school hoops legend and in time so was his brother.
He didn’t join his first league until he was in 4th Grade and was often the last boy picked. For much of his childhood, basketball was a lesson in humiliation. Aldridge lacked the coordination. He stood at 6’ 7” in his eighth grade and grew in confidence in his basketball abilities then on.
Aldridge attended Seagoville High School, where he showed good footwork, a hook shot, and a jumper. He averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 9 blocks as a sophomore in 2001-02
As a junior Aldridge led area Texas Class 4A player in scoring at 27 points per game and was area’s top rebounder at 13.4 per game. After the season he joined Team USA for the Junior World Championships in Douai, France.
He was named a McDonald and Parade All-American second team and was selected ‘Class 4A Player of the Year’ by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.As a National Honor Society member, he was also a superb student and was voted the Dallas ISD Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
He was considered a five star recruit by Rivals.com and was listed as the No.4 best center and the No.16 player in the nation in 2004. He joined the University of Texas, Austin.
As a freshman he impressed his coach Rock Barnes, with his dedication and hard work and earned a spot in the starting five. He had a premature end to the season with left-hip injury after he looked good in 16 games.
At the end of 2005-06, season, he averaged 15.9 points, while shooting 57.9 percent of goals from the floor and 9.2 rebounds per game. As a guard to opponent’s top inside scorer, he got himself into early foul trouble with his over aggressiveness. He was named Big 12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Aldridge was selected second overall in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls and was later traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. He missed the seven games of the season with shoulder injury, which required minor surgery.

On March 31, 2007, in the first quarter against Los Angeles Clippers, Aldridge complained of dizziness, shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat. He was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson White syndrome and missed remaining eight games of the season.
In his rookie season he started in 22 of 63 games he played, averaging 9.0 points, and 5.0 rebounds per game including 6 double-double. He was named in the 2007 NBA All-Rookie first team garnering 37 voting points.
He elevated his play in his second season by virtually raising all of his numbers. He averaged 17.8 points with 7.6 rebound per game to be voted third in the NBA’s Most Improved Player with 128 points.
He was inconsistent at the start of 2008-09, season which he called ‘the worst funk’ of his life. He gradually improved his offensive game and ended the season averaging 18.1 points with 7.5 rebounds per game.
In October 2009, Aldridge and Blazers had a verbally agreed in principle to a contract extension for five years, worth $65 million. Aldridge played a pivotal role after Greg Oden suffered a season ending injury and ended his season averaging 17.9 points, 8 rebounds per game including 2.1 assists with 37.5 minutes play time per game.
On February 07, 2011, in the game against Chicago Bulls, he recorded his career high 42 points and he became one of the three franchise player since 1991, to receive the ‘NBA Player of the Month’ on March 02.
The 2010-11, season ended on better note in terms of numbers. He averaged 21.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1 steals and 1.2 blocks with 39.6 minutes play time per game. He was voted distant second to Kevin Love, with 157 points for the ‘NBA Most Improved Player.’
Aldridge recorded his career high eight assists in the game against Atlanta Hawks on November 12, 2012, and ended the year averaging 21.1 points, a career high 9.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 37.7 minutes play time per game. He was named for the second time in the All-Star team.
On November 23, 2013, in the game against Warriors, he was fined $45,000, for being party to altercation between Andrew Bogut of Warriors and Joel Freeland.
Aldridge scored 31 points and grabbed a career high 25 rebounds to lift Blazers to a 111-104 victory over Rockets, on December 12, 2013. He is the first player in franchise history with this score line in a game.

In the first two games of playoff against Rockets, he scored 46 and 43 points, to become one of the four players in NBA history to score 89 or more in the first two games of a playoff series. Over the entire six game series he averaged 29.8 points and over 2.5 blocks per game.
Aldridge had career high 2013-14, season performance wise when he averaged 23.2 points, 11.1 rebound, and 2.6 assists per game, including high free-throw percentage, defensive rebounds, and double-double. He also won three Western Conference Player of the Week award.
Aldridge made a step-back buzzer beating 3-pointer against the Detroit Pistons to net his 11,333rdcareer point, to move past Terry Porter, as the second leading scorer in Blazers’ history.
On March 20, 2015, he became the Trail Blazers’ all-time leader in rebounds by scoring 10 against the Orlando Magic and also recorded his career-best 23.4 points per game in the season. He was voted onto the All-NBA Second Team.
He signed a four-year contract worth $80 million with San Antonio Spurs, on July 09, 2015 and made an impressive debut against Thunder on October 28, when he recorded 11 points and 5 rebounds in first 32 minutes of action.
Aldridge returned to active play after missing two games with minor heart arrhythmia to record 19 points and 7, rebound against Trail Blazers on March 15, 2017. In the process he reached 1,000 points for a 10th straight season, joining LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, as the only active players with that streak.
On January 26, 2018, in the game against 76ers, Aldridge grabbed his 7,000th career rebound, becoming the only player in the NBA with 16,000-plus points and 7,000-plus rebounds since he entered the league in 2006.
On March 21, 2018, in the game against Wizards he became the 27th player in the league history with 900-plus blocks and 16,000-plus points in the career.
He is a devote Christian who believes in family values. He has two sons, Jaylen Lea Aldridge, from his ex-partner, Chelsy McDanieland LaMarcus Jr. from his current relationship.
Aldridge was the guest star in the eighth episode of the second season of sketch comedy TV series ‘Portlandia,’ attending the 10th anniversary of the bookstore Women and Women First with Penny Marshall.