The 2018 NBA Africa Game is supposed to be a feel-good exhibition.
Luol Deng also considers the game — Team Africa vs. Team World at 11 a.m. ET Saturday in Pretoria, South Africa — a chance to show what value he can bring to a team, maybe even the Lakers, whose GM, Rob Pelinka, is in South Africa as part of Team World's management group.
Where does he — or did he — fit with the Lakers?
“I don’t know … I went with what they wanted,” Deng said via Independent Online.
What they wanted, he claimed, was for him to not play in 2017-18, at least that's what happened after the first game of a season filled with DNPs.
“There has been a lot of talk. Me not playing was not my call. This is an organizational decision," the native of Sudan said. "People can say whatever they want to say, I respected what they were telling me. Throughout the year I tried to play, and every time they said they wanted to play the young guys, so that’s their direction.”
Then along came LeBron James, 33, on a four-year deal this summer.
Deng, also 33, has two more seasons, at approximately $18 million per year, to run on a $72 million deal he signed before the 2016-17 season.
“I don’t know what’s going on now. Hopefully soon I will know, I would like to know the answers," he said of the quick shift in front-office strategy. “I know the level I can play at. … They can say whatever they want, I know I can play the game, they see me at practice every day. If it was a game thing then come out and say it, but the honest truth, it’s the decision they made."
The way it looks, at least the way Deng sees it, the Lakers and the veteran small forward (career averages: 15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 steal per game) are stuck with one another — but ony for now if things don't change.
“I want to play, I want to be a part of something. But I’m not going to be a part of a place where you don’t believe in me," he said. "I’m not trying to knock down anybody, but I play for people who believe in me.
"I’ve taken every opportunity since day one and proven myself, I’m not going to sit here and give you the right answer, I’m going to be honest about it, for me, if the respect and appreciation is not there, then I’d rather be elsewhere.”