Getty Images Luol Deng
Former Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng hasn’t played in the NBA in three years, but he’s continued to make an impact through the game of basketball. Since leaving the league in 2019 Deng has been working hard to make an impact in Africa and his home country of South Sudan.
“We have a Deng Top-50 camp for South Sudanese refugee kids here in the US,” said Deng. “And we have 98% of those kids on scholarships in colleges…we have over 130 kids that are [on] scholarships in the US. We have over 2,000-to-3,000 kids a year and now we have Hair League [for South Sudanese girls] and we are trying to do the same thing [there]. Every year we do a Doctors Without Borders drive where we have a number of South Sudanese doctors from across Europe that come together and go to different villages and perform surgeries. They perform over 500 surgeries a year. Ya know, I could just keep going on…but in terms of basketball for myself, I know that basketball is what gave me the opportunity [to help].”
Deng has also been a driving force behind starting the Basketball Africa League, which is something that was developed after years of doing his own camps in Africa.
“I started the Basketball Africa League journey when I was still pretty much my second or third year here in Chicago and my friend Amadou [Gallo Fall] and I would go every summer to Africa and we would just start basketball camps. I did most of the camps that I did myself in Africa in different countries every year. Five or four different countries every summer. Most of it was from my sponsoring money from the Nike shoes…I felt that it was a way for me to give back and from doing that we started getting ideas and we teamed up with Basketball Without Borders and eventually, Basketball Africa League [was] started.”
Time With the Bulls
Deng was originally drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the seventh overall pick after his freshman season at Duke. He was immediately traded to the Chicago Bulls where Deng played the first nine and a half seasons of his career.
During his time with the Bulls Deng was selected to two All-Star teams in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. He was also named to the 2011-12 NBA All-Defensive team.
Deng averaged 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game. In January of 2014, Deng was traded by the Bulls to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a trade that included Andrew Bynum.
Post Bulls
Deng finished the 2014 season with the Cavaliers where he averaged 14.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. After the season Deng signed with the Miami Heat where he played the next two seasons.
Deng’s time with the Heat ended after the 2015-16 season when he signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers. He only lasted two seasons with the Lakers though after only playing in one game during the 2017-18 season.
Deng was officially waived by the Lakers in September of 2018 which paved the way for him to join up with some familiar faces on the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his last season in the league, he played with former Bulls teammates Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, and Taj Gibson. He also played for his former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau.