Aaron Valdes (born June 15, 1993) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for

Astros de Jalisco Astros de Jalisco (English: ''Jalisco Astros'') is a professional Mexican basketball team, based in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The Astros are part the CIBACOPA and the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, the top professional basketball league in ...

of the

Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional The National Professional Basketball League ( or LNBP), officially known as the Liga Grupo Caliente, Caliente LNBP for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball sports league, league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 1 ...

. He plays the guard and forward positions.

Early life and high school career

Valdes was born in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

and attended

La Serna High School La Serna High School (abbreviated LSHS) is a public high school in Whittier, California that was founded in 1961 and is part of the Whittier Union High School District. The school has been honored five times as a California Distinguished School m ...

('11). He played basketball for the school, and as a junior averaging 18.7 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. He was named league MVP and first-team all-area. As a senior, he averaged 19.6 points and 13.6 rebounds per game, and was named first-team all-league. He also played water polo, and in 2009 was named league MVP and first-team all-area, while in 2010 he was named All-America, Del Rio League MVP, and

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have s ...

player of the year. He attended La Jolla Prep in 2011–12, and played basketball averaging 19.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and three steals per game.

College career

Valdes attended the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. At the start of his college career, he had a 41-inch vertical leap. Playing for the basketball team as a sophomore in 2014–15, he averaged 1.7 steals per game (third in the

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

), and 13.7 points per game (10th in the league), and was seventh in two-point field goal percentage (.516). He was named Big West Conference honorable mention. As a junior in 2015–16 he scored 14.1 points per game (eighth in the league) and blocked 0.7 shots per game (ninth in the league), and was fifth in two-point field goal percentage (.581). He was named second-team all-Big West. He turned pro after his junior year.

Professional career

On August 9, 2020, Valdes signed with

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa () is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football, Basketball, Weightl ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

. He averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds per game in four games before leaving the team in November. On August 10, 2021, Valdes signed with the

Plateros de Fresnillo Plateros de Fresnillo (English: ''Fresnillo Silversmiths'') was a professional Mexican basketball team, based in Fresnillo. The Plateros were part Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The team p ...

of the

References

External links

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors bioAaron Valdes
at Eurobasket
Aaron Valdes
at

RealGM RealGM.com is a sports website created in 2000. The site was originally a basketball site, but has since expanded its scope to provide information about American football, baseball, ice hockey and soccer. According to Alexa, the site ranked in th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Aaron 1993 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Israel American men's basketball players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball players Maccabi Haifa B.C. players Point guards Shooting guards Sportspeople from Whittier, California Basketball players from Los Angeles County, California Soles de Mexicali players Leñadores de Durango players Plateros de Fresnillo players Astros de Jalisco players 21st-century American sportsmen