LaMarcus Aldridge was born July 19, 1985.
Hailing from Texas, Aldridge was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, ranked as the 16th player in the nation.
Influenced by Shaquille O'Neal, Aldridge attended University of Texas, rather than declaring for the NBA draft directly out of high school. In his two seasons with the Longhorns, he averaged 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds.
Aldridge declared for the draft in 2006, and was selected second overall by the Chicago Bulls, who traded his rights to the Portland Trail Blazers shortly after. Andrea Bargnani was selected ahead of Aldridge, and would go on to be a bust for the Toronto Raptors.
Alongside fellow rookie teammate Brandon Roy, Aldridge was selected to the NBA All-Rookie team in 2007. He averaged nine points and five rebounds in 22 minutes per game.
In his second season, Aldridge took a huge step forward and nearly doubled his points per game from nine to 17.8. During the next three seasons, he shook off his injury-prone label by missing only six games, and developed into a very solid player.
With Roy missing action due to injury, Aldridge took over as the team leader, and was considered an All-Star snub in the 2010-11 season.
Due to the lockout in 2011-12, the season didn't start until Christmas day, and was shortened to only 66 games. Fans had high expectations, and hoped that Aldridge, Roy and Oden would finally be able to have a full season together. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Chronic injuries forced Roy to retire, and Oden suffered yet another setback. As the main man in Portland, Aldridge was selected to his first All-Star team as a reserve for the Western Conference.
In his next three seasons with the Trail Blazers, Aldridge averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds, and made three straight All-Star games.
After the 2014-15 season, Aldridge went to San Antonio as a free agent, signing a four-year $80 million contract.
