South Sudan is on the rise at the Olympics, just as Luol Deng envisioned it

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — With lightning bolts spattering the midnight sky behind Stade Pierre Mauroy, the South Sudan fans celebrated until their foreheads glistened with sweat. Their national flag waving in the air. Smiles on their faces. Home on their heart.

The music of popular Afro pop singer Kang JJ blasted from a portable speaker. They danced in a circle together, chanting the words to “Wec E Weyda.”  My country. They punctuated an epic night with diasporic joy.

South Sudan didn’t win its showdown with Team USA on Wednesday night. But neither did it lose.

Indeed, Luol Deng’s vision is being realized. His prophecy manifesting.

“Every time we play, the whole nation stops to watch us play,” head coach Royal Ivey said. “We’re bringing them together. We’re uniting the fans and the people of South Sudan. And that’s way bigger than wins and losses.”

Really cool scene outside the arena after USA vs. South Sudan. pic.twitter.com/vFXBNtpx36

— Marcus Thompson II (@ThompsonScribe) July 31, 2024

Deng could’ve gone the front office route. He said the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls had interest when he retired in 2019. He surely would have found an assistant coach gig after 15 years in the NBA and the credibility of Duke on his résumé. But he knew if he’d remained in the league in a different capacity, he’d be consumed for another 15 years. And he might never ever go home.

And Deng had to go home.

“I know, for a fact, there’s nowhere else I would be,” Deng said when he spoke to The Athletic in the early stages of the program about what he was building. “I know I’m meant to be here.”

Team USA, which clearly remembered nearly being upset by these same Sudanese ballers in an exhibition last month, sent a 103-86 message to the basketball darlings of these Olympics. And even that was a proclamation all its own. USA coach Steve Kerr even changed his lineup for the rematch. Not only is South Sudan here, but it’s relevant enough, formidable enough, to provoke the best effort of living basketball legends.

But Deng’s ultimate plan is not Olympic success or basketball dominance, though it’s on the list. It is to declare the promise of Africa, that it still remains despite the trauma she’s endured. It is to proclaim with his basketball megaphone how his homeland, endowed with the treasured heritage of Kush, is teeming with potential. It’s to spread the message to the scattered sons of the continent, specifically of Sudan, that they can do what Deng did. Invest in home.

“I think in the next 10 years, it’s going to jump up extremely,” Deng said in a phone interview from Kenya, one of his homes, in 2021. “But in the future, the next 10 years, or 20 years from now, 30 years from now, it’ll be a country that’s out there and people will talk about it … It’s a very, very rich country, and it will be for a long time.”

Wednesday night in France was one of those seminal moments that could inspire a generation, even without a victory. Back on July 20, in London, South Sudan came within a couple possessions late of upsetting America in an exhibition. The world took notice of this young, tall, long, athletic squad. One metric showing their boon is search activity. In the 11 days since the near upset of the century, South Sudan was searched an estimated 152,000 times. For perspective, in the same timeframe, the French National Team had about 98,000 searches. In the weeks before the almost-upset? Not even near 5,000 searches.

Then, in the country’s Olympics debut, South Sudan beat Puerto Rico to make national history.

South Sudan became a beloved underdog. That set the stage for a rematch against USA, which put South Sudan on a gigantic platform. Against this generation’s Dream Team, featuring global stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and all the eyes that followed them.

“This is my first time ever playing in front of that many people,” forward Nuni Omot said. “And obviously it wasn’t just those people watching in the crowd. People across the world were watching. That atmosphere was unbelievable. It felt like — I can’t even say what it felt like because I’ve never played in an atmosphere like that.”

The significance of this moment requires understanding Sudan’s history. Two massive civil wars displaced millions of Sudanese across the globe. The second one was Africa’s longest-running civil war — from 1983 to 2005. Part of the peace agreement between the government of Sudan in the north and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement included the framework for the Southern Sudanese to govern themselves after years of ethnic and religion-based oppression from the north. South Sudan became a sovereign state on July 9, 2011.

Deng had just finished his seventh NBA season, all with the Bulls. A decade later, he was hiring Ivey, his high school teammate and friend, as head coach of a program he was building from scratch.

Scratch might be an understatement. Because Deng didn’t have a recipe. All he had was conviction.

Born in Wau, Sudan, Deng’s father moved the family to Egypt to escape the second civil war. That’s where they met Manute Bol, who is from the same Dinka lineage that mostly dwelled among the Nile River. Eventually, the Deng family was granted political asylum and moved to London, where Deng attended high school.

His family remained connected to Eastern Africa. They clung to their culture. Deng eventually set his family up to live in Kenya.

“It was never about being famous or making money and leaving home,” Deng said. “It was all about being successful and returning home. So it’s kind of cool that I can come back and get things done now — which is just, in a way, it’s a dream come true.”

In 2010, he had an epiphany. When he made the NBA, he was always down to do charity work connected to Africa. Nothing But Nets. The United Nations World Food Program. The Nine Million Campaign. He’s worked with them all. But it was a court that changed his perspective.

He built a basketball court at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. The camp was mostly people who fled from southern Sudan. He considered it one of the coolest things he’d ever done. But it was a mistake. Because Deng didn’t consider what would happen after the court was built.

What’s the point of a court if people don’t know the game? How can people value the court, take care of it, without the knowledge and tools to maintain it?

He learned new courts must come with coaching and programs that teach the game. And good people must be put in place to monitor the development. Pride and care are core values of his program and central to the African spirit he’s so sure about. This isn’t altruism for Deng. It is self-sufficiency.

A thriving, attractive, formidable South Sudan is his vision. It begins by creating positive moments, success stories, things to feel good about at home. He wants the people who’ve been forced to live elsewhere to wear their pride for home despite the constant negativity about their homeland. And he’s using basketball to generate those good vibes and opportunities.

“People didn’t know about South Sudan,” Omot said.

“There’s a lot of jokes in the media, a lot of people saying certain things about South Sudan. But I feel like now people know who we are. We’re on the map now. I think it’s just going to be an honor for our people in the future to show that we’re here.”

That’s what Wednesday was about. Giving the nation a chance to show off in front of the world. To flex the talent and civic adoration of South Sudan, of Africa, and perhaps redeem the image of his home even a modicum.

The latest war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has produced one of the largest displacement crises in the world. Some projections have more than eight million displaced Sudanese, mostly from South Sudan and including those displaced within the country. Another generation is being affected by war and will too know the longings of home.

That’s why they didn’t lose on this night against USA. Because South Sudanese people across the world got to see their flag, their people, their likeness on a pedestal with legends.

Omot was born in a refugee camp in Kenya in 1994, and he was the lucky one. His parents and older siblings trekked from Ethiopia and were arrested. The United Nations helped get them freed and settled into the Kenyan refugee camp, where Omot was born. He was two when the family relocated to Minnesota. Wednesday, he scored a game-high 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was dancing with LeBron James.

Guard Bul Kuol, born in 1997, moved to Australia when he was nine. He plays for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League. He shot the ball better than Steph Curry, making 4 of 5 from 3-point range.

Wenyen Gabriel, born in 1997 in the capital, Khartoum, was an infant when his family fled to Egypt and eventually settled in New Hampshire. He returned to his homeland for the first time in 2022 with UNHCR. The former Los Angeles Laker, and current big man for Maccabi Tel Aviv, was back with the big boys, clashing with Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo.

It’s a story they all know well. Deng’s plan is for them all to set their compass on home. He lives there. He does business there. He touts it as a worthy destination with opportunities to be seized. He believes misconceptions about Africa deem it a remote, barely inhabitable, undesirable location. He wants the world to know a different Africa. A better South Sudan.

So in this case, basketball is a metaphor for life. Because he believes South Sudan’s day is coming. Three years ago, he expanded his investment in Africa to basketball. He funds the entire program out of his pocket. He’s an assistant coach on the team. He uses his considerable connections and resources for the revelation of the vast basketball talent in his country, which still doesn’t have indoor gyms. Everyone plays outside.

Imagine when they get more resources. Imagine when the new generation with its savvy and global fingerprints joins the movement. Imagine the ripple effect this night against USA could have.

“They’re gonna know who South Sudan is,” Omot said. “We’re gonna be a powerhouse.”

Just like Deng envisioned. The people see it, too. That’s why they’re singing and dancing into the night.

 (Top photo of South Sudan’s Bul Kuol going up for a basket Wednesday against Team USA: Pool / 2024 Getty Images)