Deng's long road to title glory

Majok Deng is one of the longest tenured players on Tasmania’s NBL24 roster. The nine-year NBL veteran’s career was at a crossroads before he landed at the JackJumpers, and now he can call himself a champion.

Scott Roth – now famously – said Deng was “a piece of gold” for Tasmania, and the JackJumpers were the only team that wanted the South Sudanese international. Now on his NBL journey through Adelaide, Cairns, and now Tasmania, he can call himself an NBL champion.

Deng wasn’t just there for the ride in this series though. He stepped up to fill the breach that was left by Marcus Lee’s knee injury in Game 3, and almost single-handedly pulled Tasmania back into the game to keep their title hopes strong.

“I’ve been in the league for nine years now and I lost a Game 5 with Adelaide against Melbourne, so it’s great to get one back. To do it with Tasmania for the first time in history, it’s good to be a part of it. It’s a special night for all of us,” Deng told the Coca-Cola Cool Down.

“Looking from afar at the JackJumpers from the start of the organisation, they’re a really tight group. To be a part of it was something I wanted, it looked like they had a really strong culture, and down in Tasmania, I don’t think there are any fans like them.

“For them to accept me for who I am and to play my game, it makes a lot of things easier. To have Scott Roth telling me ‘go play your game’ in whatever minutes I get, the guys always believe in you, I took that on my shoulders and just kept working.

“It’s been a long time coming, to finally be a champion means a lot to me and my family. I can finally say I’m a champion, it took me a while but we’re here right now.”

While Deng’s career was at a crucial juncture prior to his signing in Tasmania, his season was at a similar pivotal stage when he went down with an ankle injury in Round 12.

Although there had been a handful of breakout scoring performances early in the season, by the time of his injury, he had fallen down in the rotation.

He went on to miss the rest of the regular season, and only returned in the Playoff Series against Perth almost 10 weeks later.

Deng's return was first hallmarked by an integral 18 points in the decisive Game 3 against the Wildcats, before he scored 15 points in the final quarter to lead Tasmania to victory in Game 3 of the Championship over Melbourne.

“At the start of it I was scared, but once I accepted it, put my head down, and worked, after six or seven weeks, I knew I was going to come back stronger,” Deng said of his recovery.

“I knew I was going to be one of the fresher ones, my body was fresh because I hadn’t played for the whole season, so I was confident in myself, I had to make sure I came back healthy and it would take care of itself.

“I’m always confident in myself and I put in a lot of work, that’s one thing I do, I work on my body and my game.

“I trust in my work and it’s not the first time I’ve done that. I’ve done it for a long time. I just have to believe in myself.”