South Sudan's Former NBA All-Star Puts Paul Pierce, Gilbert Arenas On Blast For 'Ignorant' Takes

South Sudan's near-win against Team USA shocked the entire world. The powerhouse US squad had to claw back from a double-digit deficit to win against the underdog squad. However, that win came with some disrespectful takes from Paul Pierce and Gilbert Arenas.

Pierce and Arenas had some pretty harsh takes on South Sudan. Pierce was misinformed and said that “Man, they probably haven’t got anyone over 6'3'' (190.5 centimeters)".

Arenas' comments, on the other hand, were way worse. On his podcast, the former All-Star stated that, “We’re not supposed to lose to the Cool Runnings team. They don’t even have shoes. They get their shoes from America. We gotta ship them shoes."

A few days after those takes surfaced, former Chicago Bulls All-Star and President of the South Sudan Basketball Federation Luol Deng released his statement. Deng had a classy message for the two, not attacking them personally but instead expressing his disappointment.

Deng finished his statement by saying, "If we as a people realized the greatness from which we came we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves. 🙏🏿"

Deng, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons, was a two-time All-Star for the Bulls. He is now the president of his home country South Sudan's Basketball Federation, as well as an assistant head coach for the 33rd-ranked squad.

Arenas and Pierce made fun of the South Sudanese squad following their close loss. Deng's statement instead thanked the former All-Stars for allowing them to reach a bigger audience. That's a classy response to being disrespected.

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