Luol Deng, who signed a one-day contract with the Bulls last month before retiring, was honored during Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons. The 6-foot-9 forward played the first 10 of his 15 NBA seasons with the Bulls after being selected with the seventh pick of the 2004 draft.
A video tribute was played during a timeout in the second quarter and several of Deng’s former Bulls teammates — including Joakim Noah and Ben Gordon — attended the game. Deng said he picked this game because he wanted Pistons guard and former Bulls star Derrick Rose to be present as well.
“It’s what makes sense,” Deng said. “Chicago means a lot to me. When you look back, coming here as a young kid, a young man, 19 … there’s a lot of history here and I wanted it to end the right way.”
A video tribute was played during a timeout in the second quarter and several of Deng’s former Bulls teammates — including Joakim Noah, Jannero Pargo, Ben Gordon, Aaron Gray, Tyrus Thomas, John Lucas III and Nazr Mohammed — attended the game. Deng said he picked this game because he wanted Rose to be present as well.
After the game, Deng shared a warm embrace with Rose and caught up with other former teammates.
Per Phil Thompson of the Chicago Tribune, Deng started thinking about retirement last season, when he played 22 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I came to terms with it, but you know the hardest thing as you get older is in your mind, we’re so competitive and our ego is so big, that’s how we build from day one,” Deng said. “As you get older, you get comments here and there from people, like, ‘Oh, man, that’s a nice play from the old guy,’ or, ‘You had a lot more energy tonight.’ And you stop fighting it.”
Deng said the city of Chicago will always have a special place in his heart.
“The love in Chicago is different than everywhere else,” he said, per the Chicago Tribune. “Anywhere that you get drafted, people are attached to you. They watch you grow up and they kind of know who you are, your character. You’re not just a basketball player anymore. You become part of the city. I miss that. I just miss the city.
“I lived in Chicago longer than anywhere else in the world just because of my upbringing and everything. … When you leave and go somewhere else, you start to realize what kind of city it was and not every city is like Chicago.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
