Al-Farouq Aminu out of Olympics as NBBF names 12

By Akeem Lawal

NIGERIA national basketball men’s team, D’Tigers’ power forward, Al-Farouq Aminu will not participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

According to information made available by the official Twitter handle of the team, the Portland Trail Blazers forward would not play due to the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) not reaching an agreement with the Blazers on insurance of his NBA contract.

“Al-Farouq Aminu is not with the team and his status for Rio is doubtful due to insurance issue,” the Twitter handle said via @NigeriaBasket.

Aminu's Portland teammate Festus Ezeli is also absent from the Nigerian team for the same reason. 

This means Nigeria will have nine of the 12 players that reached the top of the AfroBasket 2015 podium when they run onto the hardwood to face Argentina in their first game at the Olympics on Sunday.

The Nigerian team is instead led by former NBA big man Ike Diogu, who paced the team with 14.8 points per game at London 2012, where Nigerian went 1-4 and failed to advance out of group play.

Other players that make the NBBF list include: Most Valuable Player of AfroBasket 2015, Chamberlain 'Champ' Oguchi, Shane Lawal, Michael Umeh , Andy Ogide, Stanley Okoye,  Aminu’s older brother, Alade Aminu, Detroit Pistons second-round draft pick Michael Gbinije and former NBA point guard Ben Uzoh.

The three players that did not feature last year but are now on the roster are Josh Akognon, Ebi Ere and Ekene Ibekwe.