MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Former MSUM hoopster
Jaden Stanley-Williams has inked his first professional basketball contract. Stanley-Williams signed with Galitos Aveiro of the Portugese Proliga.
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Jaden Stanley-Williams is the second North American player to join the Galitos Proliga team in the 2023-24 season. The winger who represented the MSUM Dragons in his university career arrives for the start of his professional career," the club said in a release. "This is yet another versatile and aggressive player for the team coached by António Barata. This completes the foreign contingent along with Wali Parks."
The club, based in Aveiro, Portugal, went 9-5 in regular season play in 2022-23 under head coach António Barata. Galitos advanced to the second stage, going 3-5 in eight rounds of that stage. AD Galomar is the reigning champion of the Proliga heading into the 2023-24 season. Galitos Aveiro is a member of the Portugese Basketball Federation.
Stanley-Williams enjoyed a great career in Moorhead, graduating this past spring. He played in 57 career games for the Dragons with 49 starts, averaging 8.2 points per game for his career. As a senior in 2022-23, Stanley-Williams averaged a career-best 8.8 points per game including a collegiate career high of 22 points against St. Cloud State on February 4. The Rocky Boy, Montana, native was a model of efficiency in his time on campus, shooting 44.1 percent from the floor, 39.2 from long range and 77 percent from the free throw line in his two seasons. He burst onto the NSIC scene in 2021-22 with a 47.8 percent field goal mark, a 44 percent three-point clip and an 85.2 percent success rate from the free throw line. Stanley-Williams was also an integral part of MSUM's back-to-back NSIC Tournament championships in his two seasons in Moorhead.
Initially committing to play at the Air Force Academy following his prep career, Stanley-Williams instead opted to play junior college basketball at Columbia State Community College (Clifton, Tenn.) where he played alongside future Dragon teammate
Lorenzo McGhee. Prior to MSUM, Stanley-Williams spent two seasons playing for NCAA Division I Morehead State (Ky.), helping the Eagles to an NCAA Tournament berth in 2020-21.
