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“Luol Deng the legend”, “Thank you Luol Deng and the Bright Stars” : Fan banners welcoming the South Sudan basketball team on December 2, 2020 at Juba International Airport set the tone. The players had just returned from qualifying matches for Afrobasket 2021, in Kigali, Rwanda.
And the real hero was him: Luol Deng, former professional basketball player, retired NBA superstar since 2019 and who took the reins of the South Sudan Basketball Federation, after being elected president, the same year.
The former Chicago Bulls winger also took on the role of coach of the men’s national team, the same one that snatched two victories – against Mali and Rwanda – in Kigali. The South Sudanese are now holding their breath as the final qualifying phase approaches, which will take place from February 19 to 21, in view of the continental tournament scheduled for August in the Rwandan capital.
But the recent performances of the selection – yet the youngest and least experienced in the competition – have something to give them hope. Already, its ranking has climbed nine places, placing South Sudan at 98e world rank, “In the top 100 of FIBA [Fédération internationale de basket] “, rejoiced on Twitter the South Sudanese Federation.
Among the greatest humans
Initially, the Bright Stars did not even have to go to Kigali, because they had not passed the prequalification stage. It was Algeria’s unexpected package that allowed them to return to the competition at the last minute. “When I got the call, it gave us five days to prepare and get to the tournament”remembers Luol Deng, met in Juba, the South Sudanese capital, at the end of January.
The country, which became independent in 2011, had never taken part in international championships, but is no stranger to basketball, far from it. “We want to become a basketball powerhouse and dominate the sport, not only in Africa but in the world. It’s like Jamaica with athletics, or Kenya and Ethiopia with long distance, says Luol Deng. In basketball, if we do it right in terms of organization and facilities, we have our chance because we have the talent. “
There is this gift that nature has given to South Sudan and its Nilotic peoples, who are among the greatest humans on the planet. Like Manute Bol, NBA player who died in 2010, active in the field from 1985 to 1997. From the height of his 2.31 m, he blocked the opposing shots, but also chained the baskets to three points.
It was also this Dinka, born in Turalei, who introduced Luol Deng to basketball. He trained his big brother during his passages on the Egyptian coast, in Alexandria, “A very beautiful place that he also visited to support the Sudanese refugee community”, says Luol Deng, who was part of it. At the age of 5, he fled his hometown of Wau, along with his siblings. It was 1990, the civil war between southern and northern Sudan was raging and Omar Al-Bashir had just taken power in Khartoum. A few years later, the siblings moved to south London where Luol Deng’s father obtained political asylum.
“Building this federation”
Another famous man in the world of sport will determine the rest of his career: Jimmy Rodgers, the coach of the Brixton Topcats, “Discover” Luol Deng and urges him to move towards basketball rather than football. The sequel is an irresistible rise to the top: leaving for the United States at the age of 14 with a scholarship to play basketball (“My father was happy because I was leaving the neighborhood where I could have gone in the wrong direction. I was going to do a good study ”, he recalls); signing the first contract with the Chicago Bulls in 2004, at barely 20; then a fifteen-year professional basketball career at the highest level.
In 2015, he inaugurated the Manute Bol Court at the University of Juba, two basketball courts accompanied by training programs that allow hundreds of young people to practice sport for free in the capital. He now hopes he can “Build this federation starting from the bases and extend the activities to the regions, because there is talent everywhere, not just in Juba”.
The adventure of Afrobasket gives it the opportunity to prove itself and attract new support to develop sport in the country, where the facilities are almost non-existent and where even the federation does not have the necessary spaces to practice. The players of the national team are drawn from the diaspora and from clubs and leagues mainly from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, “Because the players in the country can work hard, without the infrastructures, it is impossible to have the level”, deplores Deng.
Funded entirely out of pocket, will the Bright Stars’ participation in this competition result in new victories? Luol Deng is aware that the next step, in Tunisia, will be difficult, because “The teams have seen what we are capable of and they will be very well prepared”.
But in this young nation still marked by crises and violence, “It is anyway a positive story that will give birth to other positive stories”, wants to believe Luol Deng. What can be, thanks to basketball, “Change the way we talk about our country”.
