Al Thornton

Al Thornton is an American professional basketball player. Al Thornton has most recently represented Club Atletico Penarol in Argentina’s Liga A. He began his professional career with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers in 2007.

He previously represented the Florida State Seminoles in collegiate basketball.

Al had a fantastic NBA rookie season with the Clippers in 2008, earning him a spot on the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Childhood, Family, and Education

Al Thornton was born on December 7, 1983, in Perry, Georgia, United States of America, to Alford Thornton (Father) and Philomenia Thornton (Mother). He was raised with three older sisters.

Thornton attended Perry High School as a child, which was a short distance from his house.

His sisters attended the same school and were active in sports as well.

When Al was a child, his sisters had already graduated from high school.

His father had made hoops for them to practice basketball in their backyard, where they used to play.

He used to play with his sisters while their parents were gone at work.

Furthermore, he frequently accompanied them to practice at the high school gym.

Basketball, however, was his least favorite of the several sports he participated in at the time. He preferred to play baseball and football as a kid instead.

However, Alford, his father, wanted his son to play basketball since he thought he had the ideal body type for the sport. Thornton couldn’t stop playing basketball, even if he didn’t want to.

When he was old enough to start high school, Al began to take the sport seriously.

He began allocating more time to practice sessions, which clearly enhanced his performance.

His mother, Philomenia, subsequently said that throughout his high school years, her son was so involved in practice sessions that he forgot to keep track of his time on the court.

Al became a professional basketball player later in life thanks to his father’s determination, his mother’s encouragement, and his regular practice.

Age, Weight, and Height

As of 2022, Al Thornton is 38 years old.

His physical appearance is lean, but he appears to be healthy because he often visits the gym and eats a nutritious diet.

He also stands at 2.03 meters (6 feet 8 inches) tall and weighs roughly 213 pounds (97 kg).

He has black hair and dark brown eyes, and his eyes are dark brown.

Facts of Al Thornton

Salary & Net Worth

The net worth of Al Thornton ranges from $1 million to $5 million.

He signed a four-year, $8.1 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers when he began his NBA career in 2007. In his rookie season, his estimated annual income was around $1.65 million.

For the second season, the club paid him around $1.77 million. For his game with the Washington Wizards, he was paid around 4.7 million dollars.

In 2010, he signed a new contract with the Golden State Warriors worth $295,040. Despite the fact that the contract was for a year, he left after only 22 matches.

He has also amassed a sizable fortune from various league games around the world.

Career in High School

Al attended Perry High School in Perry, Georgia, where he played basketball. He had spent a long time practicing on the dirt court at home before stepping onto the professional court.

Brett Hardy, Thornton’s coach, quickly saw his talent and predicted that if he kept up his athleticism, he would one day be one of the biggest names in American basketball.

When Al was a junior, he began receiving scholarship offers from numerous universities.

He had scored over 40 points in just five games that year, and he was a significant player for his club. However, Al lacked academic credibility, and as a result, many universities ceased approaching him subsequently.

Fortunately, Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton was thrilled with his performance and informed him that if he passed the test, he would assist him in obtaining a scholarship.

He finally enrolled at Florida State University in 2003 after struggling to pass the SAT.

College Life

Thornton was the first collegiate recruit for FSU head coach Hamilton, who regarded him as a player. Unfortunately, his first season with the Seminoles was not a success.

Despite playing 30 games, he only averaged 2.8 points in seven minutes each game. He returned to Perry after his dismal start to tell his folks that he would work hard the following season.

The coach still believed in him and offered him another chance to demonstrate his ability. As a result, Thornton fared significantly better in his sophomore year.

He received multiple awards for his senior season, including being named to the AP All-American Third Team and finishing second in the ACC Player of the Year voting.

Throughout his college career, the Seminoles never qualified for the NCAA tournament.

Career Opportunities

Al joined the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers after graduating from Florida State University. His preseason games and summer season with the team went quite well.

As a result, the Clippers gave the rookie player more opportunities to play and increased his playing time. In his first NBA season, he averaged 12.7 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

With an average of 16.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in his second regular season, he set a new career-high.

On February 17, 2010, the Clippers traded him to the Washington Wizards after almost three seasons with them.

Following his transfer, Al played the Wizards for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.

He returned to them the next season, but his performance was poor. As a result, he was moved to the Golden State Warriors the next season.

His appearance with the Warriors was his final in the NBA league. He then went on to play professional basketball for a number of foreign league teams.

Aside from the NBA, Thornton spent two seasons in Puerto Rico’s Baloncesto Superior Nacional, where he won numerous awards, including the BSN All-Star in his rookie season in 2012.

He has also competed in league basketball in China, the Philippines, South Korea, Uruguay, and other nations.

Wife & Kids

Al Thornton is a married man and cares very much about his family.

He often posts family pictures on his social media handles with lovely, sometimes even funny, captions, and it is because of his posts we came to find out about his wife.

Otherwise, there is no mention of his personal life on the Internet.

Moreover, the couple seems a perfect match for each other, and it appears that they are still managing to have date nights now and then, even after having three kids.

His eldest son, Ashton, has already reached the school-going age and loves picking basketball at such a young age.

So, it should not be surprising if we see him following in his father’s footsteps in the future.

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Social Media Presence

Al is very active on social media platforms, mainly on Instagram and Twitter. He likes to share his professional and personal moments among his fans through Insta posts.

Likewise, he frequently shares league updates and memorable moments on his Twitter account.

Moreover, he has an unverified Facebook page as well. It has around 69k followers. However, the page has been dead since November 2021.