Hawks Land NBA Talent Deng Adel

The Hawks have pulled off one of the biggest coups of the NBL Free Agency Period, signing former Cleveland Cavaliers forward Deng Adel.

The Hawks beat off a number of NBL teams who were chasing the 23-year-old to complete their biggest signing of the Free Agency Period so far.

Adel played 19 games for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018-19 NBA Season and was in the starting line-up for three of those matches. He played a career high 36 minutes for the Cavaliers on February against the Washington Wizards in February 2019.

Adel most recently played for the Long Island Nets in the NBA G-League, after signing an Exhibit 10 contract with their NBA affiliate the Brooklyn Nets. He was averaging 11.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game for Long Island before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Adel also played for the Canton Charge (12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game) and Raptors 905 (12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game) in the NBA G-League in the 2018/19 season.

Born in South Sudan, Adel was raised in Melbourne before moving to the US where he played at the University of Louisville for three years, averaging 11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 26.8 minutes per game across 89 appearances.

The Hawks Head Coach Brian Goorjian said: "Deng is an NBA level talent and at just 23-years-old, he holds aspirations to make the NBA again.

"The fact he has put his trust and faith in The Hawks program to help him on that journey is a great endorsement of the organisation and its direction under new ownership.

"On the court Deng is going to help tremendously as we construct a roster that will help establish a winning culture for the club."

Adel joins Emmett Naar, Deng Deng, Dan Grida and Sam Froling on The Hawks roster for the upcoming season.

Adel said: "I’m super excited. I wanted to join The Hawks, it’s a great situation there having Coach Goorjian and the ownership group they have.

"It’s an opportunity to build a new culture there and I’m excited for the challenge. I’ve seen a couple of the (Hawks) games on YouTube and seen how wild the crowd gets.

"It (having Goorjian as coach) was a big factor. I’m trying to develop my game and I want to grow every year and I think the resume that he has speaks for itself.

"I want to be in that type of environment where I can work every day and be challenged by the coach and a coach that is willing to put himself out there for the betterment of the players."