Luol Deng was watching his vision coming into focus right in front of him.
It was September 2023, barely six years since South Sudan had played in its first international basketball tournament.
Yet there was Deng, a Sudanese native turned refugee and NBA star, hopping behind a circle of euphoric players inside the South Sudan locker room minutes after it defeated Angola during the FIBA World Cup to finish as Africa鈥檚 highest rank team and earn its first Olympic basketball berth.
鈥淲here we going?鈥� Deng chanted repeatedly in a moment .
鈥淧aris!鈥� the team shouted back.
Just 13 years after South Sudan emerged from civil war to become an independent nation in 2011, it will mark a milestone next month with its Olympic basketball debut.
It鈥檒l be the culmination of a dream and journey for Deng that has links to his own escape from the ravages of war and introduction to basketball through celebrated Sudanese countryman and fellow former NBA player Manute Bol.
That meeting, along with connections Deng made at a small New Jersey boarding school, helped steer him and the South Sudan team on a path he believes has led to the first of many highlights on the world stage.
South Sudan鈥檚 basketball federation president since 2019, Deng thinks the team known as 鈥淭he Bright Stars鈥� can be a uniting force for a country that鈥檚 still finding its way after years of conflict.
鈥淎s happy as we are to be there, we really want to compete,鈥� Deng said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want people watching us and thinking that we just go there. I want people to see us and see the direction of where I鈥檓 trying to take the sport.鈥�
That鈥檚 because he knows how far basketball has brought him.
Born in Wau, Sudan, Deng was 3 years old when his father, Aldo, moved with his family to Egypt in the throes of the second Sudanese civil war. It was in Egypt that Deng鈥檚 family met Bol, who introduced basketball to them.
They were granted asylum in England, where Deng lived before moving to the United States in 1999 at age 14 after being recruited by New Jersey鈥檚 Blair Academy.
Joe Mantegna had just been hired as Blair鈥檚 coach. His first two recruits were Royal Ivey, an 18-year-old from New York looking to play a post-graduate year, and Deng, who UConn had steered to Blair hoping he鈥檇 eventually follow in his brother Ajou Deng鈥檚 footsteps and play for the Huskies.
The day Deng arrived in New Jersey, Mantegna and Ivey were sitting in the stands following a workout.
鈥淟u came in, in his church shoes, he didn鈥檛 have any basketball sneakers,鈥� Mantegna recalled. 鈥淲e just kind of watched him shoot around. And we both kind of giggled to ourselves that we had something there.鈥�
In those days Mantegna lived next to the freshmen dorm and slowly began to learn Deng鈥檚 backstory.
鈥淚t was just as we built trust slowly that I heard more and more,鈥� Mantegna said. "Every time we spoke about his story, I learned more.鈥�
Those conversations and the friendship continued after Deng went to Duke and eventually the NBA, where he became a two-time All-Star and played for five teams over 16 seasons.
Then in 2021 Mantegna got a call from Deng with a request. Deng, who was involved with several philanthropic endeavors in South Sudan, wanted to start a basketball program there.
He asked Mantegna if he'd coach.
鈥淗e just called me and said, 鈥榊ou want to jump on?鈥欌�� Mantegna said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 hesitate. I just said to my wife, 鈥業 guess I鈥檓 going to be spending some time in Africa the next few summers.鈥欌��
Mantegna turned down Deng鈥檚 offer to be head coach but signed on as an assistant and made a suggestion for the top spot on the bench: Deng鈥檚 old teammate, Royal Ivey.
Deng used millions of his own dollars to fund the team in the first two years while slowly built out South Sudan鈥檚 roster. They tapped into a stable of players with ties to the country who were playing around the world, including former NBA G-League MVP Carlik Jones and others with NBA experience including Wenyen Gabriel, Nuni Omot and Blair alum Marial Shayok.
They all bought into a vision for the future that Omot acknowledged was hard to see initially.
The first time the team assembled in Sudan they showed up to find a single outdoor dirt court with one rim higher than the other, and no official 10-foot regulation goals.
鈥淎 lot of guys are refugees. And we grew up, we moved, so we鈥檝e had the luxuries of having indoor courts and such things,鈥� Omot said. 鈥淭o go back home and start kind of at the beginning, obviously, we all had a vision of what it could be. It鈥檚 just a testament that鈥檚 going to show in the future鈥�
South Sudan has risen from 82nd to 33rd in the FIBA world rankings, making it Africa鈥檚 second-highest ranked team behind No. 31 Cote d鈥橧voire. The road to the medal round in Paris will be tough with The Bright Stars in a group that includes the U.S. and Serbia.
But Omot said the success they鈥檝e had in such a short period of time is emblematic of how fast change is happening in South Sudan.
鈥淲hat the people will see when they think about our people, they see a lot of nothing but violence, a lot of things that have to do with war,鈥� Omot said. 鈥淎nd for me to be able to put that jersey on and know that people from our country, how much pride and joy they have because of all they鈥檝e seen. It means everything."
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AP Summer Olympics:
Kyle Hightower, The Associated Press
