Former NBA star Luol Deng appeared on the latest episode of the Knuckleheads Podcast and, like others before him, was asked to create an ultimate starting five with himself and four former teammates, all in their prime.
“My one would be D-Rose (Derrick Rose) obviously,” Deng said. “The two would be D-Wade (Dwyane Wade), definitely D-Wade… I’ll be the three. At the four, I would put Chris Bosh and at five I would put Joe, Joakim Noah… Listen, I hope some of my old teammates don’t hit me up.”
That is quite an impressive lineup. Let’s take a deeper look at the players Deng picked.
Derrick Rose was chosen as the point guard and he was a teammate of Deng’s on the Chicago Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rose’s career was cut short by injuries but he still walked away from the game having won MVP in 2011. He also made three All-Star teams and one All-NBA team.
Dwyane Wade slots in at the shooting guard spot and he and Deng played together for two seasons on the Miami Heat. Wade won three titles, a Finals MVP, and a scoring title in his career and is regarded as one of the best ever at the position. He made 13 All-Star teams, eight All-NBA teams, and three All-Defensive teams as well.
Chris Bosh is the power forward on Deng’s team and they were teammates for two seasons on the Heat as well. Bosh won two titles in his career while also making 11 All-Star teams and one All-NBA team.
Joakim Noah got the nod at center from Deng and was his teammate for six-and-a-half seasons on the Bulls. Noah won DPOY in 2014 and made two All-Star teams, one All-NBA team, and three All-Defensive teams.
Deng was a bit worried he might have left off someone who deserved to be in there, and I think there is one individual whom you can make a very strong case for. The 39-year-old played with Jimmy Butler on the Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves, and I think I would give him the nod over Bosh.
Butler is a six-time All-Star who has also made five All-NBA teams and five All-Defensive teams. I’d just about give him the edge over Bosh and he’d slot in at small forward, with Deng going to power forward.
As for some of the other notable names Deng left out, they are Kyrie Irving, Ben Wallace, Karl-Anthony Towns, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Goran Dragic. I think you can make a case for Wallace to get in there ahead of Noah, as he won four DPOY awards. I can understand why Deng went with Noah, though, as they had the most successful years of their career together.
You could also make a case for Irving to be there over Rose but Deng was asked to pick players in their prime and only one of those two men has won an MVP.
As for Deng’s own career, he spent 15 seasons in the NBA and finished with career averages of 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. He made two All-Star teams and one All-Defensive team along the way.
Deng retired in 2019 and that very same year, he was appointed as president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation. He holds that role to this day and saw his team make it to the Olympics for the first time in their history in 2024.
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