CANTON, OHIO -- For recently turned 22-year-old Deng Adel, perseverance and patience is all he has ever known. Seeking refuge in Australia at the age of four to escape civil war in his homeland of South Sudan, Adel originally found a passion for track and field before being introduced to basketball in his early teenage years.
Speaking to ESPN, Deng recalls a trip back to South Sudan in 2011 to visit family and friends as a catalyst for steeling his resolve and determination to make it to the NBA.
"When I came back to Australia in 2011 I was more serious about everything," Adel recalls. "That's when I really started taking basketball seriously, I was working out every day, just my whole approach was different.
"I didn't want to play around anymore because I realised there's other people that don't have the opportunity that I have, and I don't want to waste that."
After playing three years of college basketball at Louisville from 2015-18, Adel was overlooked in the 2018 NBA draft before signing with the Raptors 905 in the G League.
The 200cm forward quickly impressed, starting in 24 of his 25 outings, averaging 13 points and 5.4 rebounds in 31 minutes per game.
Sensing an opportunity was on the horizon, Adel was told by his agent to wait by the phone as the Cleveland Cavaliers were keeping a close eye on the Australian.
On January 15, this year, the call came through.
"I was in contact with my agent for the two days before and he was telling me to stay by my phone and that the Cavs were maybe going to call," he tells ESPN. "It was a Sunday afternoon when I got the call, one of the guys from the Cavs gave me a call and welcomed me on board and said they were really excited to have me.
"From there, they gave me flight details and I flew in the next day to get started and complete physicals and all the necessary things."
Signing the two-way NBA contract was an emotional time for Adel, who wasted no time calling family and friends to break the news in between packing his bags for a flight to Cleveland in just a few hours.
"It felt like all the hard work I put in was paying off. It was always my dream to make it to the NBA, so it was so exciting," Adel says.
"I reached out to my family and close friends and they were calling me also to congratulate me and remind me how hard I've worked for this. It was very emotional, I was so happy, but I knew as soon as I got here I had to get to work and couldn't think about it too much."
Adel's NBA debut came just four days later, when he was inserted into the game for the final five minutes of the Cavaliers' loss in Denver. With just under a minute left in the game, Adel found himself open on the wing for his first shot attempt as a Cavalier, showing off his smooth stroke from the beyond the arc.
"Man, the first shot is always nerve racking. I was just telling myself to shoot with confidence - I've shot millions of those shots in practice while I've worked on my game, so it was just about being ready to shoot, not playing the miss-or-make game, just shooting with confidence," Adel says.
"When it went it was such a relief and I was like, 'wow, I just made a shot in the NBA' - it was a very happy moment."
Just over two weeks into his NBA career, the whirlwind nature of the league has been eye-opening, though the friendly sight of fellow Australian Matthew Dellavedova has helped immensely.
"The hardest part for me, especially because I came from a different organisation and was picking things up on the fly, you have to learn things quick, we are playing every other day so it's a different adjustment," he says.
"Guys like Delly have been great, just talking to me and catching me up on what we do and how everybody plays here and how the coaching staff do things."
Though he is just seven games into his stint with the Cavaliers, the advice and guidance has been coming in spades from coach Larry Drew and the rest of the Cleveland staff.
"They tell me to just continue to play hard and defend, continue to have the confidence to shoot when I am open and just bring a lot of energy," he says. "They just want me to improve on my ball handling and improve and grow as an all-around player.
"Mentally I just know that I want to play and play for as long as I can at this level. I just know now that I've had a little taste that I just have to work twice as hard as I've been working before if I want to stay here."
Through all his recent personal success, South Sudan is never far from Adel's mind, and he's quick to point out that making it to the NBA only increases his desire and responsibility to give back to the youth of his home country.
"My job isn't done - especially just giving back to the community. I want to get back [to Sudan] and run a couple of camps and just try to bring as much positivity back home that I can," he says.
"I understand I'm being watched by people back home, so it's always been important to me to be a good character, in all ways including social media because I know those kids are watching. For me, it's about being a positive role model and setting a good example."
As of January 15, those kids now look up to their idol as: Deng Adel, NBA player.
How does that sit with Adel?
"It hasn't completely hit me yet," he laughs. "But that's something I want attached to my name, so I know I have to keep working."
