Deng not distracted

Luol Deng, who scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against Indiana, told CSNChicago.com that he would consider playing overseas next season if a potential lockout was prolonged and it was permissible by NBA rules, although he’s obviously focused on the current season at the moment.

“I have no problem with it. I’ve got to wait and see what the rules are, but growing up in Europe and playing in the summer in European competition, I have no problem doing that, but I don’t want to do that. I want to stay right here and play. We’ll see how it goes. I might not be able to. It might be smart to just wait and see what happens, but at the same time, if it looks like it’s going to be a long time—which we all hope it’s not—I’ve got to see what’s the rules, what’s the options, what can you do and what can you not do because all of us want to be here and play,” said Deng, who learned last week that his Great Britain national team—which may have former Bulls teammate Ben Gordon on board—had qualified for the 2012 Olympics, to be held in London.

“When that time comes, you go over it. There’s no point right now to be thinking about that. You’ve got to be locked in this season and try to do what you’ve got to do. When it’s all over and done, when that time comes and you’re in that situation, that’s when you make that decision, but I haven’t even given it a thought at all. Really I just try to focus on what we’ve got here.”