Solid and consistent execution of the defensive game plan is what Al-Farouq Aminu provides to his team. The Nigerian-American is a professional basketball player who plays in the power forward position for the Boston Celtics NBA.
He has experience playing with many teams, such as the New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, and Portland Trail Blazers. The athlete has been out for a long time, as he has already played 11 seasons in the NBA.
Farouq also played for the Nigerian Men’s Basketball Team and represented them in the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, United Kingdom.
Moreover, he is a free agent who is not bound to any team and is free to sign. He’s been here since his teenage years and still going strong as before.
Al-Farouq is an international player who plays for two nations and has represented both in excellent ways.
As a professional player, he is one of the best in his game. Further details about him are mentioned below. But before that, here are his quick facts.
Al-Farouq | Quick Facts
| Full Name | Al-Farouq Ajiede Aminu |
| Known As | Al-Farouq Aminu |
| Birth Date | September 21, 1990 |
| Birth Place | Atlanta, Georgia USA |
| Nick Name | The Chief |
| Nationality | American/Nigerian |
| Ethnicity | Nigerian-American |
| High-School | Norcross High School |
| University | Wake Forest University |
| Horoscope | Virgo |
| Father’s Name | Aboubakar Aminu |
| Mother’s Name | Anjirlic Aminu |
| Siblings | Alade Aminu |
| Age | 33 years old |
| Weight | 220 lbs (100 kg) |
| Height | 206 cm ( 6 feet 9 inches) |
| Build | Athletic |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Helina Tekeste Amino |
| Children | Emanah Aminu |
| Profession | Professional Basketball Player |
| Position | Forward, Power Forward |
| League | National Basketball Association (NBA) of USA |
| Team | Nigeria Men’s National Basketball Team & Boston Celtics |
| Jersey Number | 7 & 72 |
| NBA Draft | 2010/Round 1 |
| Experience | 11 seasons in NBA |
| Salary (2021) | $10,183,800 |
| Net Worth | $30 million |
| Active Status | 2010-present |
| Social Media | Instagram, Twitter |
| NBA Merch | NBA Shoulder Backpack |
| Last Update | April, 2024 |
Royal Decendent
His Father, Aboubakar Aminu, and his mother, Anjirlic Aminu, are said to be the descendants of the Nigerian kings.
And that is where his name comes from, Al-Farouq Ajiede Aminu, which translates to “The Chief has arrived” in English.
Aminu | Family & Education
Along with his Father and mother, he has an older brother named Alade Aminu. Alade is also a basketball player and plays for the Nigerian Basketball Team.
Both of the brothers had played together in the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the same time, Alde had represented Nigeria in the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Aminu was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where he and his brother grew up to become one of the finest forwards. Having an older brother gave him a sense of direction to where he wanted to go in his life.
He went to Norcross High School in Spalding and graduated from Wake Forest University.
Aminu | Academic Career
High School Career
Sophomore Year
Aminu transferred from Wesleyan School to Norcross High between his first and second years.
It was the year 2008 when he ranked as one of the top college recruits in the nation. The college and high school football networks Rivals.com and Scout.com had rated him as top 7 and full 13 in the USA at that same time.
Aminu and his teammate led Norcross to a 30–3 record and a number 12 national seed during his junior year.
Senior Year
As for his senior year, the average was 23.1 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. Norcross finished at 29–2 and ranked number 6 in 2008.
Aminu was also a member of the 2008 McDonald’s All-American Team. In addition, he played in the Jordan Brand Classic, scoring 12 points and 13 rebounds.
College Career
He was a unanimous selection for the ACC All-Freshman Team when joining Wake Forest College during the 2008-09 season.
He enrolled in Wake Forest over Georgia Tech with a signed Letter of Intent in July 2007 and November 2007.
Even as a rookie, there was no doubt how much of a skilled player he was. He led all the first-year students that year and made it possible to be ranked in the top six in the ACC with 8.3 rebounds per game.
His personal best would have to be the 10 double-doubles that year, along with five more in conference action. He was the second-best among all the rookies, with 13.0 points per contest.
Professional Career
Starting in 2022, Aminu has played for seven teams in total. He is a veteran player who has experience of 11 seasons in the NBA.
Los Angeles Clippers (2010-11)
As far as being selected in the 2010 NBA draft, his career took a massive turn when he was chosen as the Clippers’ eighth overall pick.
Even if he played only one season for them, he gave his career-high points with a memorable game in the eighth game against New Orleans Hornets, where he scored 20.0 points with 8.0 rebounds in 2010.
It was not until March 2016 that he broke his record.
New Orleans Hornets/ Pelicans (2011-14)
The hornets were eyeing the extraordinary skills of Aminu, which they had witnessed in the court back in 2010. So, they tried their best to include him in their team.
Aminu played with them for three long years.
At the end of 2011, Aminu joined the Hornets. He ended the season 2012-13 with his career-high rebounds of 20.0.
Dallas Mavericks (2014-15)
One of the memorable games he played for Dallas was with Houston Rockets when he scored his second-best with 17.0 points and 12 rebounds with a 111-100 win.
Aminu was there for a season.
Portland Trail Blazers (2015-19)
Farouq played his first game for Blazers in the team’s season-opening against his first team in NBA New Orleans in October 2015.
A year after that, he managed to break his long-pending record two consecutive times.
One of them was with Boston Celtics, where he scored 28.0 points, promising the Blazers a win while hitting a career-high six three-points for a 116-109 game.
Blazers tied that team series at 2-2 with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he broke his record for the second time but with an overall career-high of 30.0 points and 10 rebounds.
Injury (2016-17 season)
He has to miss about 30 games apart for the rest of several weeks during the 2016-17 season.
Al-Farouq Aminu suffered from a calf injury in November 2016. Again, he has to miss mid-December reason being sore back.
He scored his season-best with 26.0 points against Boston Celtics after returning in February 2017 with a full recovery.
Towards the end of 2017, Aminu missed several games because of his right ankle injury.
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Orlando Magic (2019-2021) TT
Without getting to perform after signing with Orlando Magic, he was announced to be indefinitely out after his various injuries.
He underwent a torn meniscus in his right knee later in 2019. It halted various upcoming games he would have played during his time in Orlando.
Chicago Bulls (2021)
After an exchange from Orlando Magic, Amino joined Chicago Bulls in March.
Later, various draft picks from the team were traded to San Antonio Spurs for an off-season game, and he was one of them even before the season started; the Spurs renunciate him.
Boston Celtics (2021-present)
Signing a 10-day contract in December, he got with Boston Celtics but didn’t even get to play a single game.
International Career
Along with playing for NBA, he also plays for the Nigerian Men’s National Basketball Team.
In 2015, FIBA Africa Championship (Afro Basket) was held in Tunisia; he played against Angola for a 74-65 win. For his great playmaking, Aminu was named one of the All-Star Five of the 2-15 Afrobasket.
Aminu | Personal Life
He is married to Helena Tekeste Aminu, an Ethiopian graduate of Virginia Tech University. They dated for four years since 2010 and finally got married in 2014.
They have a beautiful daughter named Emanah Aminu. She was born in 2015 and is currently six years old.
Helena co-founded the Aminu Good Work Foundation, which focuses on empowering underprivileged children and promoting healthy lifestyles.
It is done through athletic camps, programs to teach life skills, and career development to promote academic excellence and education.
Also, she and her husband had tried to honor the African reality through their appreciation and promotion of African Art by opening a small gallery where others could appreciate the art and work.
Aminu’s Net Worth
All of his net worth comes from his basketball career.
According to recent data, he has a net worth of $30 million. Al-Farouq Aminu’s salary is also about $10 million as of 2022.
Controversy
Sometimes past becomes the horror of one’s present. It haunts us and can even create a bad reputation for us at some point.
This is what happened to Al-Farouq. In 2016, posts surfaced under JewishDoggy under the heading “Here’s another collection of old tweets from NBA players.”
Aminu’s tweets were one of them. It got so many responses because of all the homophobic slurs. Too much hate was thrown at the community, and there were about 16-17 tweets.
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At some point, he said that he hadn’t written the tweets and denied the rumors.
We don’t know what he thinks about them, but the past isn’t something to recall.
How Active is Al Aminu in Social Media?
Aminu doesn’t seem to be a social media person, even though he has his account opened on Instagram and Twitter.
There are only a few snippets of him on Twitter from his various teams. His Twitter account has not been updated since October 2019.
As for Instagram, he is seen enjoying music and museums hand in hand.
- Instagram: @chiefhasarrived– 73.1k followers (as of Jan 2022)
- Twitter: @farouq1– 77.2k followers (as of Jan 2022)
Al-Farouq Aminu on NBA 2K22
The Current Version of Al-Farouq Aminu has an Overall 2K Rating of 71 with a Build of a Multi-Position Defender. He has a total of 3 Badges.
