By Duncan Mackay - 11 April 2009
 

Luol Deng may be the current pin-up boy of British basketball but that status is not exactly thrilling everyone. Last week, while covering the International Olympic Committee's Evaluation Commission visit to Chicago, I took the opportunity to watch the Bulls take on the New Jersey Nets at the United Center.
 

 

As the home team continued their surge towards the NBA Play-offs with a thrilling 103-94 victory, the only sighting of Deng was on the giant video screen taking part in a light-hearted karaoke contest.

 

The forward has been missing from action since February 28 with a stress fracture to his right tibia that looks likely to mean he will also miss the Play-offs, something which most fans who were among the crowd of 21,424 last week consider to be a poor return for the $71 million (£48 million) that the Bulls forked out last year to ensure that the stayed at the club on a six-year contract.

Compounding the situation is that many fans are increasingly beginning to believe that Deng, a Sudanese refugee raised in London, where he learnt to play basketball, is more committed to helping Britain make an impact at the 2012 Olympics in London than justifying his huge salary which would make even David Beckham look twice. The Bulls have made it clear that they want Deng to rest at the end of this campaign but he has made it even clearer than he intends to captain Britain's team at the European Championships, due to be held in Poland in September.

 

John Paxson, the Bulls' general manager, issued a terse "no comment" when asked recently what he thought about Deng being so keen to do his national service for Britain this summer.

At the heart of the issue is the NBA's desire to break into new markets, particularly Britain, using Deng as a bridge-head. It is a topic that Sam Smith, the doyen of Chicago Bulls writers, covered in a recent blog that appeared on the club's official website.

He wrote: "It’s one of the most troublesome and confusing issues that is quietly befuddling many NBA teams, and now the Bulls.

"How can you not let your players compete for their countries in international competitions? A major injury to a key player of your team - and generally only the best players compete for their countries - could cripple a team’s chances at a time when the player is being paid by his NBA team yet risking injury playing for some Government federation.

"Yet, so called 'globalization' in the NBA has become a priority and NBA Commissioner David Stern has urged all teams to allow their players to compete.

"Yet, what of a player like Deng, who might sit out for the rest of this season with a potential stress fracture, then recover and before joining the team again play for his adopted country, Great Britain, and perhaps again risk injury."

The situation has parallels with what is happening in English football where top managers, like Sir Alex Ferguson, are generally reluctant to let the players they are paying multi-million pound salaries to disappear to represent their countries. The form of Beckham and Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford almost certainly badly affected the next season by their rush to recover from injuries in time to play for England in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup tournaments respectively.

 

Beckham's relatively poor form in 2002-2003 arguably led to Sir Alex deciding to transfer him to Real Madrid against his will. There have been loud whispers that Deng could be traded to another NBA team next season, something that looks unlikely in the current economic climate as whoever took him on would have to pick up the remainder of his mega-contract. Anyway, the majority of Bulls fans wish him to stay.

Smith writes: "I'd like to see Deng rest and be ready for next season with the hope the team can make a major step forward."

 

With the Bulls against Deng playing for Britain this summer and Deng equally determined that he will, it appears that in this tug-of-war that there must be a loser. But surely both the Bulls and Britain will be praying that Deng does not end up aggravating the injury so badly that he suffers long-term problems. That would benefit neither party.

 

Duncan Mackay is the publisher and editor of insidethegames.com. He was the 2004 British Sports Journalist of the Year and was the athletics correspondent of The Guardian for 11 years.

 
Comments


Why should the Bulls pay Deng $71m so he can play for Britain?
It's not fair.
By Bulls fan

13 April 2009 at 15:28pm

I have been a Bulls fan since the days of his Royal Airness
Michael Jordan but I cannot agree with this comment. Luol has
done more to promote the sport in Britain than anyone else since
Saint Michael - the difference is that he was brought up in
london and the black kids can identify with him in the way they
never could RAMJ. The guy is an icon and you simply can't put a
price on that.
By Bulls fan UK

13 April 2009 at 20:38pm