Anthony Darrell "A. J." Slaughter (born August 3, 1987) is an American-born naturalized Polish professional basketball player for

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...

of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroCup. He played college basketball for

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

High school

Slaughter started every game of his high school career at Shelby County, averaging 14.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game. He posted 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals per game during his sophomore year as the Rockets won the district championship, earning District MVP honors and a First-Team All-Region selection as well. Another district title followed in his junior year (18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals per game) with a second First-Team All-Region selection. He contributed 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.7 steals per game as a senior to help Shelby County reach the state Sweet 16, leading the ''

Louisville Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is the highest circulation newspape ...

'' to name him as their Player of the Year, with a third First-Team All-State selection added. Rated a three-star recruit by

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, Slaughter received scholarship offers from Vanderbilt and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

but chose

(WKU) of the Sun Belt Conference in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

. Signing his

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a heads of agreement, term sh ...

on 26 August 2005, he was the first verbal commitment of the 2006 Western Kentucky recruiting class.

College

Freshman year

For Slaughter's collegiate debut, he registered 20 minutes and scored a year-high 18 points in a 96–55 defeat of Kennesaw State on 11 November 2006, ending his season with 5 points in the 2007 Sun Belt men's basketball tournament semifinal defeat against

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. He appeared in all 33 games played, starting an 11 January 2007 game against

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

after starter

Courtney Lee Courtney Lee (born October 3, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball at Western Kentucky University. Lee was drafted by the Orlando Magic with the 22nd overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft and wa ...

got injured, playing two more games that season. He finished with 15.9 minutes per game, contributing 200 points (10th best for WKU freshmen) with per game averages of 6.1 points (7th in the team), 1.7 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.9 steals (3rd in team).

Sophomore year

Slaughter scored in excess of 10 points on 12 occasions as a sophomore, including a season-high 17 points in a 31 January 2008 game against Arkansas-Little Rock. He helped Western Kentucky win the 2008 Sun Belt men's basketball tournament, earning a place in the

2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball ...

. In the first-round game against

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

on 21 March 2008, Slaughter posted 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists to help the team progress. In the Sweet Sixteen loss to top-seeded

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

on March 27, he added 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

, Slaughter played for the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

in the NBA Summer League. On July 26, 2010, he signed a one-year deal with Angelico Biella of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier ...

. For the 2011–12 season he moved to Belgium and signed with

Dexia Mons-Hainaut Belfius Mons-Hainaut is a Belgian professional basketball club that is based in Mons, Wallonia. The club competes in the highest division of the country, the BNXT League. The club's home arena is the Mons Arena. Founded as Quaregnon in 1959, the ...

. In July 2012, he signed with

Cholet Basket Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the French League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1 ...

of the French LNB Pro A. In June 2013, he signed a one-year deal with another Pro A side,

Élan Chalon Élan Sportif Chalonnais, commonly known as Élan Chalon, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Chalon-sur-Saône, France. The team's main colors are red and white, and their mascot is a moose. The team's home arena is called ...

. On July 16, 2014, he signed a two-year deal with Greek giants Panathinaikos. On June 30, 2015, he officially terminated his contract with the team. On July 16, 2015, Slaughter signed with the Turkish club

Banvit Banvit is a feed and poultry producer based in Bandırma, Turkey. Business and activities Starting as a feed producer in 1968, Banvit gradually moved into the production of broiler chickens. Today Banvit has the country's largest single broiler ...

. On August 15, 2016, Slaughter signed with French club

SIG Strasbourg Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket, most commonly known as SIG Basket or SIG Strasbourg, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Strasbourg. The club, founded in 1929, competes domestically in the French Pro A League, and ...

for the 2016–17 season. On July 8, 2017, Slaughter signed a two-year contract with French club

ASVEL ASVEL Basket, commonly known as ASVEL or sometimes as ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and also known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team that is located in the city of Villeurbanne, which is a suburb of Lyon, ...

. On July 1, 2019, Slaughter signed a two-year deal with Spanish club Real Betis Energía Plus. He averaged 13.3 points per game. On July 12, 2020, he signed with Herbalife Gran Canaria. On July 28, 2020, it was understood that due to a small health issue, AJ Slaughter cannot join the team until the end of September, so both parties decided to terminate their contract by mutual agreement. However, on November 10 he signed with Gran Canaria. In May 2021, Slaughter signed with

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الكويت الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. The football team has won Kuwaiti Premier League 17 times. Kuwait SC also has over 50 trophies in Kuwaiti Club foot ...

to play in the Gulf Champions Basketball Championship.

International career

In June 2015, Slaughter became a Polish citizen, in order for him to be able to play for the

Poland national basketball team The Poland men's national basketball team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w koszykówce) represents Poland in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Polish Basketball Federation (PZKosz). Poland has competed at the Euro ...

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...

. Slaughter also played for the team during

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

and

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, as well as the FIBA World Cup 2019 in China.

Personal

His father, Anthony "Tony" Slaughter, played basketball for Murray State from 1980 to 1981. His two sisters Toni and Antonita also played basketball collegiately, both for

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, the latter was a graduate assistant at

Drury University Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,700 undergraduate and gra ...

as of 2015.

References

External links