Born to Aboubakar and Anjirlic Aminu on September 21, 1990 in Atlanta, Al- Farouq Aminu is an American-Nigerian professional basketball player of the NBA as well as the Nigeria national team. He has an older brother who is a fellow Olympian, Alade, and a younger brother, Al-Majid. Growing up, Al-Farouq and Alade had an eternal basketball battle in the driveway of their Stone Mountain, Georgia home. The family believes that the big-brother competitiveness contributed to his competitive drive and toughness that he has today.
Al-Farouq attended Wesleyan School and transferred to Norcross High School his sophomore year and played under coach Eddie Martin. As an upperclassman, Aminu helped Norcross to Georgia 5A state titles in 2007 and 2008 and was ranked as one of the top college recruits in the nation from the class of 2008. He was named the state of Georgia's "Mr. Basketball" that year. Aminu played in the 2008 McDonald's All-American game starting for the East Squad. Aminu was also member of the USA Junior National Select Team. He chose to play at Wake Forest over North Carolina and Georgia Tech in 2007. In his freshman season he was selected to the ACC All-Freshman Team, being the only player in the conference to average double-doubles with 29 double-doubles in his 2 years.
He declared for the 2010 NBA Draft where he was selected 8th overall by the Clippers, playing every game that year. In December of 2011 Aminu was traded to the former New Orleans Hornets and quickly became a New Orleans fan favorite. In 2012 he competed at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games for the Nigerian National Team. Aminu will be playing small forward with the Dallas Mavericks for the 2014-2015 season.
The consummate Renissance Man, Aminu is passionate on and off the court. His charitable endeavors include work with the Jordan Brand Classic and with the McDonald's All Americans. His international contributions include participation the 2012 Sprite Slam NBA Development Camp in Zambia, Africa for the NBA.
Farouq says, “I believe that generosity, a positive attitude, hard work and discipline are the keys to achieving your dreams.” He continues, “I like to share these values and help others… so they too can experience personal success and happiness despite where they come from, or what they have done in the past.”
