When Duke Blue Devils ' Khaman Maluach - now one of South Sudan's headline names - first picked up a basketball in late 2019 at a Luol Deng Foundation camp in Kampala, Deng brothers Luol and Ajou did not immediately notice him among the scores of talents living in Uganda.
It was around the time that former Duke and Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng was starting out as the president of the South Sudanese Basketball Federation (SSBF). He was elected in 2019 and set about continuing the work he had been doing with his foundation since 2005, only now on a much grander scale.
At the time, now-Basketball Africa League star Maluach was 13 years old and remarkably tall for his age, but that did not make him an anomaly in the South Sudanese community. However, less than five years down the line, Maluach would commit to Duke and become the face of the Deng brothers' dream to unite a divided country through basketball.
Luol Deng told ESPN: "I retired and I always did my basketball camps. I know a lot of players from South Sudan and I knew that we could make it something special.
"I want to help the growth of the game, but I want to use basketball to change the narrative and the stories of South Sudan, but also find a way to bring communities along and for everyone to get something inspirational behind it."
The hard work is starting to pay off, as Team USA found out at their USAB Showcase in London on July 20, winning by just one point. LeBron James was forced to score a last-minute layup to beat the South Sudanese, and while an exhibition game doesn't mean much, they will face each other again in Paris on July 31 and the Americans will certainly be a bit more on their toes.
South Sudan are not a team to take lightly at the upcoming Paris Olympics, and aside from Maluach, have a number of talented players on their roster, including former NBA player Wenyen Gabriel, and some faces BAL fans will be well-familiar with, like Nuni Omot.
The work to get more players who qualify for the country to commit to the Bright Stars is ongoing, and not at all easy.
Phoenix Suns ' Bol Bol has been the obvious one who has proven elusive through many attempts to get him into the national team over the years, but he has not been the only one.
For instance, 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Defensive MVP and former Los Angeles Lakers pick Ater Majok has been unable to represent South Sudan due to having already represented Lebanon before the national team of his home country even existed.
In addition, Luol Deng claimed that reigning BAL MVP Jo Lual-Acuil - who has impressed for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Summer League - was left off South Sudan's training roster because he initially declined to represent the country in Paris, though he eventually reconsidered and the door remains open for the future.
"I think he changed his mind. We'll see. He wants to sit down but he said that he didn't want to play, which is fine. For me, everyone who plays for the national team, I want it to be a pride and I want it to come from them," Deng told ESPN before the South Sudan pre-Olympic training camp.
"Anytime any player calls me and says: 'I want to play for Australia,' or they want to play for any other country, I say: 'Go ahead,' because for me, what makes us so good is that each player wants to play and it's hard for me to say no, so when someone tells me they don't want to play, I'd rather take someone who really wants to do it.
"I think with Jo Lual-Acuil, there was a lot of stuff going on with him, but I think now he wants to. The door is always open, so we'll see... We had to clear players, so I don't know if he can play. I need to go back to FIBA.
"We sent in all the names. The Olympics asked for all the passports, all the papers. We've sent everything in... It might be too late. I don't know; we'll see."
Late changes to the roster are not beyond the realm of possibility. Milwaukee Bucks draft pick Thon Maker revealed on X that he has submitted an appeal to FIBA's ruling that he cannot be cleared to play for South Sudan after previously representing Australia in competitions.
Majok Deng, another lanky South Sudanese-Australian, is part of the roster and played in Thursday's 84-81 win over Great Britain and Saturday's narrow defeat to Team USA together with fellow experienced players such as Nuni Omot and Carlik Jones.
Makoj Deng told ESPN at the BAL earlier this year: "It's something bigger than myself, bigger than basketball - uniting the country. To play with that on your shoulders - it would mean a lot for me to represent my country in the Olympics."
The Maluach Factor
Alongside Deng, Jones and Omot is Maluach - the next generation's great hope and 2025 NBA Draft prospect - described by coaches both in and outside the national team as a highly inquisitive player who thrives off the presence of experienced teammates.
Ajou, now the national team's assistant coach, told ESPN about seeing Maluach as a camper: "I never paid attention, because a lot of kids are similar... He couldn't even dribble the ball, so we put him on the side with some of the coaches, just learning how to dribble and stuff like that, but it just shows how kids can develop.
"You never know - a kid could be on the side and not doing much, but he could have a huge IQ and pick up things very quickly - and that was Khaman.
"Where he is at [just over] four years [after playing for the first time] is just unheard of. It's crazy - where he's at right now. He's growing so fast; I use that as an example for kids all the time."
Maluach became the third-youngest player in FIBA World Cup history when he represented South Sudan in the Philippines last year, before his 17th birthday, as Sudan had the best outcome for an African side and thus qualified for the Olympics.
He then went on to commit to Duke - a decision which his mentor knows the potential benefits of, but insists Maluach took himself.
"When we had him last year, I pushed for him to be in the national team at 16, because I knew going to the World Cup would change his whole mindset and everything," Luol said.
"The next year after doing that, you could see he played with a chip on his shoulder. He's reached a level at the World Cup that he knew he has to get better [to perform well at]. When he went back to the [NBA] Academy, he was a totally different guy.
"It was his decision [to go to Duke]. I just shared with him my experience at Duke. I shared with him what it's like - the brotherhood - but I told him it's not an easy place to go, but at the same time, when you go to Duke, there's a level of respect. There's a level of urgency in terms of having to win.
"The one thing that I do see in him - and I like it a lot - is he's just never satisfied. I've been around people who let words and compliments really get to them. You can see for a 17-year-old kid, all these praises, he doesn't even care and that's what I like about him.
"He's very grounded and works really hard and anyone can be around him and that's a really good sign. I respect that a lot from him."
More than basketball for the world's newest nation
Despite the presence of such sheer talent in their ranks, it was always going to be a tough task to unite a diaspora of players who often possess dual nationality and grew up outside South Sudan. In addition, the country is still in the process of healing from divisions within its own borders.
South Sudan faced a lengthy struggle to gain independence, which was finally achieved in 2011 - making them the world's youngest nation. Even afterwards, however, they were gripped by civil war from 2013 to 2020.
The result was that a new generation of South Sudanese people - including Maluach, who was born on September 14, 2006 - was forced to grow up outside the country, just as the Deng brothers and the Bol family had, while the fight for independence was still ongoing.
When Maluach travelled to South Sudan with his teammates to celebrate Olympic qualification, it was only his second time going back home since fleeing to Uganda as a toddler.
"I actually don't know the year I left South Sudan... I don't remember anything, moving to Uganda. All I know is that I grew up in Uganda," Maluach told ESPN.
Nevertheless, basketball has become an important means of staying in touch with their roots. The diaspora celebrated the success of South Sudanese players even before independence was won, but with a national team leading Africa into the Olympics, the pride the country takes in basketball has reached new heights.
"Sports brings unity. It allows people to see the possibility of working together. The competition takes people's minds away from other things. I think basketball in the last four years has played a huge role in our peace and our development," Luol Deng said. His brother concurred.
"If it wasn't for Luol, I don't think we would have got this far, not just because of his vision, but also because he funded the whole thing. For him to fund it and say: 'Hey, we're going to get to here at some point,' we've got to give him credit for that because at the end of the day, he wanted our people to see what sports can do for [them]," said Ajou Deng.
"Even our president (Salva Kiir); the first time we went to see him - since we had been [independent for] 11 years, 12 years, or 10 years at that time - It's like he never got any positive calls from other leaders since our independence.
"We had crises and everything, so he's very, very happy about it and he can see how much young people are following and how much the sport brought everybody together. Now, it's just like more young people want to play.
"Not only that, [but] because of that now, you can use that blueprint - not just for basketball. You can use it for young people to just believe in themselves for any other things - for young people to just believe in themselves.
"If they just put their minds into something and focus on something, then they can also accomplish things."
South Sudan will face Puerto Rico on July 28, USA on July 31, and Serbia on August 3 in the Olympics group stage.
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