Former Chicago Bulls All-Star Luol Deng is being sued by a national law firm that claims he stiffed them on more than $1.05 million in legal bills tied to his real estate dealings. Barnes & Thornburg filed the lawsuit against Deng in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging breach of contract and other claims over unpaid fees plus interest.
According to Reuters, Deng hired Barnes & Thornburg for legal work on a series of real estate deals, and the firm says it handled the refinancing of a New York-based property for him while also restructuring loans on a Chicago-based property. The firm also says it explored financial options and negotiated with lenders on Deng's behalf, but that he never paid for that work. Deng played 10 years for the Bulls during a 15-year NBA career, and the outlet notes he was pictured as a Bulls forward playing against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City in February 2013.
Neither Deng's lawyer nor Barnes & Thornburg spokespersons responded to Reuters' requests for comment, and representatives for the South Sudan Basketball Federation, where Deng has served as president since 2019, also did not respond.
A Real Estate Empire Built on NBA Earnings
The fee dispute lands in the middle of a real estate portfolio Deng has spent more than a decade assembling. He founded his primary investment company, D3N9, in 2014, and it has grown into a global commercial property operation valued at an estimated $200 million by 2026, according to Celebrity Net Worth. That portfolio was seeded in part by his playing career, during which the two-time All-Star earned roughly $166 million in total contract salary between 2004 and 2019, including a four-year, $72 million deal he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2016.
Deng's real estate ambitions have repeatedly circled back to Chicago. In 2019, he teamed up with former Bulls teammate Derrick Rose on a $25.6 million deal to acquire three development sites totaling 23 buildings and 354 multifamily units, a transaction that targeted designated Opportunity Zones, per Forbes. A year later, Deng partnered with the National Basketball Players Association's Own Our Own initiative to acquire and redevelop a 143-unit housing project in the West Pullman neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, aimed at boosting affordable housing and community economic growth.
A Firm With Deep Ties to Deng's Business Dealings
This is not the first time Barnes & Thornburg has represented Deng in legal matters. The firm previously served as his defense counsel in a November 2023 federal case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where Deng filed a third-party complaint against his former business partner and advisor David Gross, court records show. Gross, a former Wall Street banker, had served as chief investment officer for D3N9 after connecting with Deng in 2014, while JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon provided early mentorship for his real estate ventures.
Barnes & Thornburg is itself a heavyweight in the legal industry. The Indianapolis-headquartered firm employs more than 900 attorneys across 26 offices, generated $747.2 million in gross revenue in 2024, and ranks 73rd on The American Lawyer's AmLaw 200 list. The firm has been expanding aggressively this year, adding 85 new attorneys nationwide through lateral hires, including a 12-lawyer insurance recovery group that grew its presence in New Jersey and Philadelphia.
The Cook County court where the current suit was filed has fielded civil litigation involving Barnes & Thornburg before. In 2014, a group of Indiana doctors brought a $2.2 million legal malpractice suit against the firm in the same court, naming its partners as defendants.
An Open Question Behind the Unpaid Bill
What remains unclear is exactly why Deng allegedly stopped paying for legal services tied to properties the firm helped refinance and restructure. It is not established in court filings or reporting whether the unpaid fees stem from complications in restructuring or refinancing properties tied to D3N9, or whether fallout from past disputes with business advisors played a role.
Off the court, Deng has built a reputation well beyond real estate. He has served as president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation since 2019, a period that saw the country's men's team, nicknamed the Bright Stars, make its Olympic debut in 2024. Despite never signing a maximum-salary contract during his NBA career, Deng's estimated $200 million net worth in 2025 surpassed that of several active and former NBA superstars, including Dwyane Wade and James Harden, according to Black Enterprise.
