Professional athletes squandering their wealth post-retirement is a tragic tale that has been told many times over the years, but Luol Deng is among a growing number who don’t fall into that category. Deng had a long and productive 15-year NBA career, and according to Yahoo Finance, he has now built up a $200 million real estate empire.
Deng made about $166 million in salaries in the NBA, but he didn’t wait till the end of his career to start his dealings in real estate. He entered the league as the seventh pick in the 2004 NBA Draft and began investing almost right away. His portfolio today includes hotels, resorts, casinos, and apartment buildings.
According to Forbes, Deng’s first investments were in East Africa and London. He later turned his attention to the U.S., putting his money in various areas such as spec houses in the Hamptons, multifamily units in Baltimore, and the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Deng also has a luxury hotel in the Bahamas under his company, D3N9.
Deng didn’t do all of this alone, of course. He had mentors who helped him along the way, and he met one of them thanks to his decision to go to Duke for college.
During his one year at Duke, Deng befriended the daughter of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. He was then drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 2004 but traded immediately to the Chicago Bulls.
As luck would have it, Dimon was based in Chicago at the time as CEO of Bank One. Real estate entrepreneur Don Peebles served as another mentor of Deng’s, but former Wall Street Banker David Gross, who is today the Chief Financial Officer of D3N9, has been of most help to him. Gross and Deng crossed paths in 2014 when the former was getting a master’s degree in real estate development at Columbia University.
Gross, who was Nipsey Hussle’s longtime business partner, is also the founder and CEO of Own Our Own, an inner-city focused real estate fund. Deng was among those in the NBA world who partnered with it in 2020 on a project that planned to uplift a 143-unit multifamily property in the West Pullman neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago.
Deng had spent nine and a half seasons with the Bulls. Joining this project gave him the opportunity to invest in a community he cared so much about.
Deng made two All-Star teams during his time with the Bulls, which ended in January 2014. He’d suit up the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, and Minnesota Timberwolves in the years that followed. Deng retired in 2019 but remains active in the basketball world. He became president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation that same year and holds the position today as well.
