During his four years in the NBA, Luol Deng has played an integral role in the success of a young Chicago Bulls basketball team. In his young career, Deng has averaged an impressive 15.6 points per game with 6.4 rebounds per game. Equally as impressive are Deng’s contributions off the court. In only four years as a professional, the 2006-2007 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner has worked tirelessly to give back to others. His current mission to serve as the centerpiece in building Great Britain’s national basketball program is just one more example in a long list of inspiring contributions to others.
The Bulls recently recognized the 6-foot-9 forward’s impact on and off the court in dramatic fashion, signing him to a six-year extension worth $71 million plus additional bonuses. The lucrative deal was struck just two days before Deng’s negotiating deadline, at which time he would depart for his native Great Britain and focus only on his goal of raising Britain’s national basketball program to prominence.
The upstanding character of the 23-year-old is the product of an arduous journey to adulthood filled with many challenges and triumphs. At the young age of four, Luol, his parents, three brothers and five sisters were forced to flee civil war in Sudan (where his father held a position in the Sudanese parliament). The Deng family spent the next four years in Egypt where Deng learned the game of basketball from fellow Dinka tribe member Manute Bol. The Deng family was granted political asylum in England after spending four years in Egypt. They made a home in South Norwood where Luol’s parents still reside.
In England, Luol developed the basketball skills that afforded him the opportunity to journey to the United States at age 14, where he attended Blair Academy. Although an ocean away from his family, Deng excelled and was ranked the second best player in the country his senior year (behind LeBron James). The highly touted prospect landed at Duke, where he donned No. 2 jersey with pride and helped lead the Blue Devils to the Final Four in 2004.
These childhood and adolescent experiences instilled in Deng the passion to use his gifts to improve the lives of others. “I feel that I am not just an athlete,” Deng says. “Because of my position, because of what I have been through, because of what I have seen, because of what my country has been through, I feel that I have a responsibility to do something more than perform on the court. I t just does not make sense to keep all my gifts to myself. I feel that everything I earn is for me to share with everyone.”
Deng’s lofty rhetoric is empowered by his commitment to acting on what he believes. He does not see his new $71 million contract as merely an increased pressure to perform on the court. He says of the contract, “This brings a lot of responsibilities. Those are responsibilities I’m looking forward to, on and off the court.” He already bores many responsibilities off the court, such as serving as spokesperson for the World Food Programme and for the Nothing But Nets initiative, a grassroots effort to prevent malaria by delivering long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets to those in need. The large contract will also help contribute to Deng’s pledge to donate $50 per basket he makes to the Nothing But Nets initiative and to the ninemillion.org campaign to raise funds for refugee children to get an education.
Deng has always showed concern for those in his native Africa and homeland of Great Britain. He hosts annual “Hope for Sudan” and celebration for the “Lost Boys of Sudan” in order to increase awareness and support for his countrymen. Additionally, after every NBA season Deng has organized a summer basketball camp sponsored by Nike in London, England for British NBA hopefuls to gain exposure.
In the same spirit of his summer basketball camps, Deng now continues to give back to Great Britain, where his family was provided a safe home just 15 years ago. Like his college coach with USA Basketball, Deng wants to raise the level of his national basketball program to compete with the world’s best. In doing so, he hopes to provide Great Britain with a renewed sense of patriotism and pride as London will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Deng’s presence on the national team has had an immediate impact. Last summer Deng played six games for the British squad and served as a vital member in helping them gain promotion to Division A of the European Championship, a first for Great Britain. Going into September’s qualifiers, the Great Britain team has already seen the impact of Deng. Teammate Pops Mensa-Bonsu said of Deng, “His talent alone just raises the level of play of others around him. At practice today, some of the things he was able to do showed what a difference he can make.”
Similarly, Great Britain coach Chris Finch spoke very highly of the former Duke playmaker. ”It’s great having Deng,” he says. ”We have to harness his enthusiasm and energy. Just having him here automatically increases expectations of a respectable performance in the London Olympics, but first we have to qualify for the European championship.” As he has been in the lives of so many that he has touched, Deng will be the difference maker in Great Britain hope’s of qualifying for the EuroBasket Championships next year.
In a country so heavily dominated by soccer, Deng’s performance is looked to be the impetus for the growth and notoriety of the game of basketball in Great Britain. “Playing for Great Britain is very important to me,” Deng says. “I just want more than anything kids here and all over Europe to play basketball.” Luol has literally become the poster child of Britain’s new campaign for the 2012 Olympics. Nike recently released a print ad of Deng with a basketball in hand. It reads, “Luol shoots a thousand hoops a day. Now he’s counting down until he comes home to compete in four years’ time. I’ll be ready.”
Whether Deng will succeed in raising the standard and significance of the game of basketball in Great Britain remains to be seen. Given his achievements in all of his other campaigns to help improve the standards of others, it is likely that his quest will be triumphant.
