Alabama guard Aaron Estrada agrees to deal with Detroit Pistons
Alabama senior guard Aaron Estrada was not drafted on Thursday. A day after the 2024 NBA Draft ended, however, he agreed to an Exhibit-10 deal with the Detroit Pistons, according to Jon Chepkevich.
Estrada transferred to Alabama last offseason after two years at Hofstra. It marked the fourth stop of his college career, along with one-year stints at Saint Peter’s and Oregon, but it proved to be the most rewarding for Estrada. After five years at the collegiate level, the New Jersey native finally made the NCAA Tournament. Not only that, he helped lead the Crimson Tide to its second Elite Eight appearance in school history and its first Final Four.
Estrada was key during Alabama’s March Madness run, too, as he scored in double figures in all but one of the Tide’s five tournament games. In the loss to UConn, the senior guard scored 13 points and was 3-of-5 from behind the 3-point line. His highest-scoring game was a 19-point output against North Carolina in the Sweet 16, and he was two points short of a double-double against Grand Canyon in the Round of 32 (8 points and 10 rebounds).
“I can say I took a lot of good things away from the experience,” Estrada said in April. “A lot of people don’t even make it to the NCAA Tournament. Up until this point, I’d never been to the NCAA Tournament. I can’t even really describe what the experience is like. You’ve just gotta be here to really get the full experience.
“As a kid when you watch the games, you only see what’s on the TV. You only get to watch the game. You don’t get to come back in the locker room, get to see all the media and all that stuff. Yeah, I’m happy with the season that we had, and we made history, as well.”
Estrada played in and started all 37 of Alabama’s games last season after committing to Nate Oats out of the transfer portal. He averaged 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field. A Woodbury, New Jersey native, Estrada ranked third in the SEC in assists per game. He posted the fourth triple-double in program history on Feb. 28 at Ole Miss, recording 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the win.
His collegiate career ended with 1,968 points, 638 rebounds and 523 assists. After the 2023-24 season ended, Estrada was invited to the NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago, and although he was not among the select players to earn a bump to the NBA Draft Combine, he worked out for double-digit teams during the process before this week’s event in Brooklyn.
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