Luol Deng decides success is made for sharing

August 4, 2008
Matthew Syed
Times Online

Luol Deng has just signed a six-year contract with the Chicago Bulls for a basic $71million (about £36million), with bonuses taking it up to a possible $81million. To translate it into the weekly figures used when talking about football, the 23-year-old will soon be enjoying a basic income of £120,000 per week.

But Deng, a forward with balletic style, does not drive a Porsche or a Baby Bentley. He does not wear cascades of bling or spend evenings in the roped-off areas of shimmering nightspots. He does not lust after fame, adulation or any of the conventional trappings of materialism. Deng's ambitions are forcefully different: “I want to make the world a better place.”

It is a somewhat clichéd aspiration, but in Deng's case it is shot through with personal and intellectual honesty. Whether it is talking about his impending purchase of a hybrid car or the possibility of funding a television channel devoted to environmental issues (a subject he has discussed with Al Gore, the former US vice-president); whether it is debating the responsibility of athletes to protest in Beijing or the ethnic roots of the conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, Deng combines moral seriousness with a commitment to action.

“I feel that I am not just an athlete,” he says, without arrogance. “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. It 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 perspective was shaped by a tumultuous personal odyssey. At the age of four his family fled civil war in Sudan (his father had been a minister in the Government) to live in Egypt. At 8, his family were granted asylum to settle in England, eventually taking up residence in a small house in South Norwood, London, where Deng developed his basketball skills with a local team. At 14, Deng was on the road again, travelling alone across the Atlantic to take up a scholarship in New Jersey and pursue his ambition of playing professional basketball.

“I did not imagine that my journey would ever culminate in the NBA, but I always had an inner belief,” he says. His success since joining the Bulls in 2004 has been considerable. In 2006-07 he played in all 82 of the regular-season games and led the team in minutes played and in field-goal percentage. He has won three leading sportsmanship awards, including the prestigious NBA award in 2007, voted by his peers for the player who best exemplifies “ethical behaviour, fair play and integrity on the court”.

Although last season was peppered with injury, his sizeable new contract is a testament to the esteem in which he is held in the US.

But despite spending most of his adult life on the other side of the Atlantic, Deng remains committed to British basketball and has been instrumental in positioning the national team for a tilt at the podium in 2012. “I have played with the England national team since I was young so it is great to be with the guys, shooting for a medal in 2012. It means a lot to all of us,” he says. “The problem before was that the team was poorly organised and the best players didn't turn up so we were not in a position to qualify for Beijing. But last year we were promoted to the European A division and we are developing some real spirit.”

Deng spends much of his summers at his parent's home in South Norwood, visiting the same barber he did as a kid and hanging out with old friends. Even his accent harks to the past, his American drawl occasionally breaking into south London brogue.

“My mum really loves the fact that the family lives in the same house we grew up in,” he says. “I love being home, visiting all my old haunts. In Chicago, things are crazy, with every little thing getting into the paper. Being here takes the pressure off and allows me to be low key.”

But even at his family home, Deng's mind is never far away from his wider responsibilities. “During the civil war [in Sudan], the Government kidnapped many kids from their families to train them up for the army,” he says. “They are called the Lost Boys.

“Some kids escaped the camps into Kenya and were brought to America. I try to spend evenings with those who ended up in Chicago and I have also built a learning centre for them and put in computers.

“When you get a chance to do something real like that, why would you want to spend your money on fast cars and gold chains?”

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