Chinanu Onuaku
Chinanu Michael Onuaku (born November 1, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Santeros de Aguada of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals. In 2021–22, he led the Israeli Basketball Premier League in rebounds per game.
| No. 32 – Santeros de Aguada | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Power forward / Center | ||||||||||||||
| League | BSN | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | November 1, 1996 Lanham, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 255 lb (116 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Riverdale Baptist (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Louisville (2014–2016) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 2016: 2nd round, 37th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Selected by the Houston Rockets | |||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2016–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Houston Rockets | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | →Rio Grande Valley Vipers | ||||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Greensboro Swarm | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Wonju DB Promy | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | Zadar | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Bnei Herzliya | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | Dinamo Sassari | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Hapoel Tel Aviv | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Joventut | ||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Goyang Sono Skygunners | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–present | Santeros de Aguada | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Stats at NBA.com | |||||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
Onuaku is known for his use of underhand free throws, an unorthodox shooting technique most famously used by Rick Barry, one of the most accurate free throw shooters in NBA history. Underhand free throws are very rarely used in the modern NBA as many NBA players view the technique as embarrassing to use; the technique is often pejoratively referred to as "granny style". Onuaku found success by adopting this shooting method, increasing his free throw percentage from 46.7% his freshman year of college to 72.4% his rookie year.