Faisal Aden (born January 1, 1989) is a Somali professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

Pro career

After going undrafted in

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Asso ...

, he signed with the

Leuven Bears Leuven Bears, for sponsorship reasons also called Stella Artois Leuven Bears, is a Belgian professional basketball club from Leuven. The club competes in the BNXT League, the highest tier in Belgian basketball. History The team has played in the ...

Basketball League Belgium The Basketball League Belgium is a governing body for basketball in Belgium. It directs the ten professional Belgian basketball sports clubs of the top-tier Basketball League Belgium Division I. See also *Basketball League Belgium Division I R ...

but was cut due to failing a physical. In November, Aden was selected in the 2012 NBA Development League Draft by the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

affiliate

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

as the 13th pick in the 3rd round. He was shortly traded to the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado 14 ...

. After appearing in one preseason game with the Legends, Aden was waived. On February 16, 2013, Aden signed a contract with the Italian powerhouse

Virtus Roma Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, commonly known as Virtus Roma, was an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. It competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for the last time in the 2020–21 season. It was form ...

. Two months later, Aden left Virtus Roma. During the following preseason, he was part of the German

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team of

SC Rasta Vechta Sports Club Rasta Vechta is a German basketball club based in Vechta, Lower Saxony. The club plays in the ProA, the second tier of professional Basketball in Germany. Founded in 1979, the club spent the majority of its history in the lower-tier ...

, but was cut from the team shortly before the 2013–14 season's start. In 2019, Aden was on the roster of Kenyan club

KPA KPA may refer to: * Keele Postgraduate Association, Keele University, UK, formerly Keele Research Association (KRA) * Kensington (Olympia) station, London, England, National Rail station code * Kenya Ports Authority * ''Kiln phosphoric acid'', a ...

during the 2021 BAL Qualifying Tournaments. On December 19, he scored 20 points in the 79–76 win against Ferroviário de Maputo.

International career

Aden was born in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

and moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

when he was seven years old. He opted to represent his country of birth,

Somalia national basketball team The Somalia national basketball team is the national basketball team of Somalia. It is a member of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and is governed by the ''Somali Basketball Federation''. Administration As of April 2014, Nur Moha ...

. On January 25, 2013, he scored 59 points in an 83-86 loss versus

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

during the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship qualification.

References

External links

Washington State Cougars bioESPN Profile
1989 births American people of Somali descent Basketball players from San Diego Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Living people Virtus Roma players Shooting guards Somalian men's basketball players Sportspeople from Mogadishu Washington State Cougars men's basketball players {{Somalia-sport-bio-stub