Gilbert Arenas appears to have changed his stance on South Sudan’s basketball team. Taking to Instagram, Arenas shared a post about Luol Deng funding the South Sudan basketball team with his own money, and shouted him and the team out, tagging Deng and adding several fire emojis.
Gilbert Arenas shows love to South Sudan and Luol Deng pic.twitter.com/9j4MgREqiD
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 30, 2024
Arenas went on a disrespectful rant on his podcast after Team USA nearly got upset by South Sudan in a showcase game. Many of Arenas’ remarks were racist and perpetuated harmful stereotypes about South Sudan and Africa as a whole, and drew a lot of backlash from basketball fans and players.
South Sudan’s Luol Deng even clapped back at Arenas for his comments, explaining to him how ridiculous his comments were. Even Team USA’s Joel Embiid chimed in on the matter, slamming Arenas for his bigoted and small-minded remarks.
The South Sudan basketball team has been the feel-good story of the Olympics this year. After their great performance against Team USA in the showcase game, they opened their Olympic account with a win against Puerto Rico, marking their first win in basketball on the Olympic stage.
It is incredible just how far the country’s basketball team has come. Wenyen Gabriel of South Sudan explained how difficult their preparation can be, as South Sudan doesn’t have any indoor courts or other necessary resources for them to be able to practice properly.
Despite these struggles, they were able to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in their young nation’s history. Under head coach Royal Ivey, who is also an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets, South Sudan’s basketball team continues to make history, and earn support from all over the world.
Can South Sudan Make A Miracle Run In The Olympics?
After their win over Puerto Rico, South Sudan takes on Team USA in their second Olympics game today. South Sudan already knows what it is like to play against Team USA after their showcase game, and will be confident about posing a challenge to them based on the showcase game and their recent momentum-boosting win.
South Sudan has become the sentimental favorite for neutral fans in the Olympics. The feel-good story their journey presents makes them the beloved underdogs, who are looking to battle against giants in the basketball world, like Team USA, Serbia, Canada, Germany, and many other countries.
While Team USA will be more careful this time around, they can still cause problems for them. Steve Kerr admitted after their previous game against South Sudan that he didn’t prepare the team well ahead of the challenge, and wouldn’t let that be the case again.
Team USA will want to prove that their previous encounter was a fluke and a result of them not being focused. After a dominant win over Serbia, Team USA will be buzzing, and ready to keep the momentum going forward. But the last thing Steve Kerr’s men can afford to do is take South Sudan lightly, as it almost cost them the previous time.
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