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

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

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

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

, 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 Bur ...

but chose

(WKU) of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

in the

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

. Signing his letter of intent 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 Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was found ...

on 11 November 2006, ending his season with 5 points in the

2007 Sun Belt men's basketball tournament 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, ...

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 l ...

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

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public university, 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 uni ...

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 was ...

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 St ...

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 in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. On July 26, 2010, he signed a one-year deal with

Angelico Biella Pallacanestro Biella, known as Angelico Biella for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Biella, Piedmont. It plays in the second division Serie A2 as of the 2015-16 season. For past club sponsorship names, see ...

of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. 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 c ...

. In July 2012, he signed with Cholet Basket of the French

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

. 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 Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

. On June 30, 2015, he officially terminated his contract with the team. On July 16, 2015, Slaughter signed with the Turkish club Banvit. 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 i ...

for the 2016–17 season. On July 8, 2017, Slaughter signed a two-year contract with French club ASVEL. 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 Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria – Claret, S.A.D., is a professional basketball club based in Las Palmas, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Gran Canaria Arena. From 2012 until 2021, they have been sponsored by Herbalif ...

. 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 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 at

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 Sept ...

. Slaughter also played for the team during EuroBasket 2017 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 Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

from 1980 to 1981. His two sisters Toni and Antonita also played basketball collegiately, both for Louisville, the latter was a graduate assistant at Drury University as of 2015.

References

External links