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NBA Africa's commitment to build 1000 courts on the continent over the next decade continued in Rwanda on Monday, with NBA legend Luol Deng in attendance, as they unveiled a court in Nyamata. The NBA's African operation, in partnership with nonprofit Opportunity International, opened the court at Highland School, with a second court opening scheduled for Tuesday, May 27 at the Loiswell Academy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Luol Deng almost sued Bulls for misdiagnosed injury
During an appearance on Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles' "Knuckleheads Podcast" on Tuesday, Deng opened up on the situation: "I ended up missing the playoffs," Deng said. "And what happened was that year there was a dispute going on with the NBPA and so on about me suing the Bulls because of what took place. "But I knew that if I sued the Bulls, I would either not play basketball ever again in order to win the case, to prove that things didn't go well and this could be career-ending but wanted to hoop so I said, 'Yo, I'm not suing anyone. I'm just going to hoop. I'm just going to come back.'"
At the time, what started as a headache progressed to flu-like symptoms, which the Bulls medical staff feared could be viral meningitis. They sent Deng to the hospital, where a spinal tap was performed despite other team members dealing with the same symptoms. Not only did Deng not have viral meningitis, but he wound up dealing with complications from the procedure as spinal fluid leaked into his body. He then struggled to walk and lost a considerable amount of weight.
Ben Golliver: In passionate comments, South Sudan’s Luol Deng said referees treated his players differently than Serbia: “It’s a narrative and a stigma that’s out there that African players are aggressive… I don’t know why there’s no African referees in the Olympics. It’s 2024.”
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Tim Reynolds: “If that game is fair right there, we have a better chance.” - Luol Deng. He adds that South Sudan will be back and will be better. “We have a direction that we’re trying to get to,” he says.
Deng could’ve gone the front office route. He said the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls had interest when he retired in 2019. He surely would have found an assistant coach gig after 15 years in the NBA and the credibility of Duke on his résumé. But he knew if he’d remained in the league in a different capacity, he’d be consumed for another 15 years. And he might never ever go home.
Indeed, Luol Deng’s vision is being realized. His prophecy manifesting. “Every time we play, the whole nation stops to watch us play,” head coach Royal Ivey said. “We’re bringing them together. We’re uniting the fans and the people of South Sudan. And that’s way bigger than wins and losses.” Deng could’ve gone the front office route. He said the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls had interest when he retired in 2019. He surely would have found an assistant coach gig after 15 years in the NBA and the credibility of Duke on his résumé. But he knew if he’d remained in the league in a different capacity, he’d be consumed for another 15 years. And he might never ever go home. And Deng had to go home.
“I know, for a fact, there’s nowhere else I would be,” Deng said when he spoke to The Athletic in the early stages of the program about what he was building. “I know I’m meant to be here.”
But Deng’s ultimate plan is not Olympic success or basketball dominance, though it’s on the list. It is to declare the promise of Africa, that it still remains despite the trauma she’s endured. It is to proclaim with his basketball megaphone how his homeland, endowed with the treasured heritage of Kush, is teeming with potential. It’s to spread the message to the scattered sons of the continent, specifically of Sudan, that they can do what Deng did. Invest in home. “I think in the next 10 years, it’s going to jump up extremely,” Deng said in a phone interview from Kenya, one of his homes, in 2021. “But in the future, the next 10 years, or 20 years from now, 30 years from now, it’ll be a country that’s out there and people will talk about it … It’s a very, very rich country, and it will be for a long time.”
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South Sudan didn’t win its showdown with Team USA on Wednesday night. But neither did it lose. Indeed, Luol Deng’s vision is being realized. His prophecy manifesting. “Every time we play, the whole nation stops to watch us play,” head coach Royal Ivey said. “We’re bringing them together. We’re uniting the fans and the people of South Sudan. And that’s way bigger than wins and losses.”
“When the national anthem was sung, you know, it just gave me goosebumps, and I realized that this was bigger than basketball,” Deng told CNN Sport’s Amanda Davies. “And you know that the support is going to be there. “This is really a credit to our fans who supported us from day one. And now, we have such a huge following and huge (fanbase) that we really believe that it’s so inspiring because of the fans. The energy and everything that they’re bringing is inspiring everybody else to pay attention to it.”
“We didn’t just randomly put a team together. I’ve known a lot of these players since they were so young, and I’ve kept up with a lot of other players that I didn’t know, but they were on my radar,” he told CNN. “And before I took over the president of the federation, I did imagine, ‘What if those guys committed to play for our nation?’ And this is the result because it’s all come together.
“We play to win, we’re not just happy to be here,” said Deng. “We feel like we do belong here, and we’re representing the continent, and we want to represent it the right way. When people watch us play, they understand that, you know, we’re well coached and we have great players.”
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