Luol Deng was born in Wau, Sudan to a father who was a member of the Sudanese parliament. They moved to Egypt to escape the civil war and he met Manute Bole who taught him how to play basketball, and mentored him. They moved to London once the family was granted political asylum and played both football and basketball. At age 14 he moved to the U.S. where he played basketball at Blair Academy in New Jersey. He was a tri-captain during his tenure there, and was considered the second most promising high school senior in America after LeBron James.

He has had a very illustrious career in basketball and was named First-Team All America By Parade Magazine and USA Today. At Duke University he continued an impressive ru, appearing in 37 games and making 32 starts. He is the 10th freshman in ACC history to lead all rookies in scoring, field-goal percentage, and scoring.

He was drafted by the Phoenix Suns after one year at Duke, and traded to the Chicago Bulls immediately as per a previous agreement. He has a long list of memorable seasons and has won several awards. Players in the NBA voted for him to receive the NBA Sportsmanship Award in May 2007. He also won the 2006-2007 Golden Icon Award for Best Sports Role Model and is involved with several charitable organizations. A recent injury kept him out of the game but he should be back and playing by the middle of January 2008.