2015 Afrobasket champion with Nigeria’s D’Tigers, Al-Farouq Aminu has spoken about his passion and pride representing Nigeria at the international level.
The Orlando Magic forward in the American NBA was guest of Sho Madjozi on the ESPN channel of DSTv, where he spoke passionately about how he cherished the 2015 AfroBasket title and other issues.
On winning 2015 Afrobasket with Nigeria, “Oh man, it was unbelievable. I know Nigeria so many times had tried to win, came out with silver. To kind of get that monkey off our country’s back, it’s unbelievable,” the Orlando Magic Star began.
Aminu who was born in Atlanta, Georgia to a Nigerian father and American mother, was selected with the eighth pick by the LA Clippers in the 2010 NBA Draft.
Another event that he so cherished and has stayed in his memory since making his switch to play for Nigeria is representing Team Africa in NBA Africa Game 2015 and 2018 in South Africa.
“I shared the same basketball court with Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo, not a lot of people get to say that. It was surreal… These are (my) childhood heroes, especially Hakeem, being Nigerian. I still remember my dad, he did not watch any basketball, but he knew who Hakeem was. He used to talk about his Dream Shake and things like that,” gushed the lanky forward.
He was one of the almost whole foreign-based players that represented Nigeria ‘s male team at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Aminu has also attended a number of Basketball Without Borders Africa camps and took part in an NBA camp in Lusaka, Zambia in 2012.
