The 75 greatest NBA players of the 2010s, ranked

52) Luol Deng

Former star Luol Deng spent 10 years with the Chicago Bulls, with five of those years coming in the 2010s. Deng was known as a two-way wing who was a minutes eater, logging big minutes throughout his time there, including leading the league in that category during the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons.

Unsurprisingly, that helped both him and the Bulls, with Deng making back-to-back all-star teams while Chicago had the best record in the NBA each of those seasons. Unfortunately, those minutes came back to bite Deng, with it likely contributing to his having a sharp dropoff.

The Bulls wisely moved on from him ahead of time, however, and Deng spent half a season with the Cleveland Cavaliers before he signed with the Miami Heat. He played well enough with the Heat to warrant a 4-year, $72 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2016 but that turned out to be a mistake for the Lakers.

He played only 57 games with the Lakers over two years before being waived and stretched, essentially meaning they agreed to pay him the remainder of his contract over five years while he was free to play elsewhere. Deng closed out his career and the decade with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

While his career ended on a bad note, Deng was still among the best wings in the NBA in the 2010s, posting 15.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game over the first six seasons of the decade with the Bulls, Cavs, and Heat and 14.5 points and 5.9 rebounds in 569 games overall.