Luol Deng: A Changed Man

Adam Andre, director of the The Luol Deng Foundation, stands with Luol Deng in July 2011 on a trail through the Jebel Rock mountain range over Juba, South Sudan. (Luol Deng Foundation HANDOUT / January 6, 2012)

The words appeared on Luol Deng‘s Twitter feed at 4:05 p.m. on Nov. 16.Eating outside by the Nile River is so peaceful.

Deng sat there, on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan, dining with his father, brother and best friend. The sun warmed. The wind calmed. Eventually, his friend, Adam Andre, even jumped in the river. Deng teased him about getting eaten by alligators.

But no. On this day, four months into South Sudan’s remarkable independence, with four of Deng’s eight siblings and his parents having returned home for good, only peaceful moments prevailed.

It’s not unlike the contentment Deng has found in his professional life. Once maligned by Bulls fans for being overpaid and physically and mentally brittle, Deng has become coach Tom Thibodeau‘s indispensable part, as reliable and relentless as the mighty Nile’s current.”He’s relaxed because he knows that everything is cool now,” says Andre, who has known Deng since they attended a New Jersey boarding school together 12 years ago. “There’s peace in South Sudan.”

Deng’s father, Aldo, served as Sudan’s minister of transportation as civil war raged. The family left for Egypt when Luol was 5, eventually landing outsideLondon when England granted Aldo political asylum in 1993.

Deng spent six years in England, left for New Jersey’s Blair Academy at 14 and earned a basketball scholarship at Duke. After one sparkling season, the Bulls acquired his draft rights in a trade with the Sunson June 24, 2004.