Ex-NBA player and Luol Deng’s high school teammate, Royal Ivey will headline this years DENGTOP50 taking place from 19-22 August at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

Ivey (pictured) has now turned his hand to coaching where he is currently the lead assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA D-League. His NBA career spans over 10 years playing for numerous teams such as the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks where he went to the NBA finals with Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012. Ivey is known for his leadership skills and also known to be a great mentor and close friend to one of the world’s greatest players in Kevin Durant.

This past 2014/15 season, Coach Ivey has been instrumental in helping the Oklahoma City Blue in their first ever season in the NBA D-League to a 28-22 record sealing second place in the Southwest Division and 4th overall in the Western Conference.

Ivey is excited to be apart of the camp and ready to see first hand what the UK talent has to offer.

“I’ve always wanted to come to Luol’s camp in the UK as he is constantly telling me about the talent there is so I’m really excited about finally making the trip. I also really like the new TOP 50 format as it not only brings the best players together in one place, but also creates that much needed competitive environment that brings the best out of the best!”

We are also delighted to welcome back Coach Joe Mantegna for a third consecutive year to make this camp extra special as a real Blair Academy reunion where he coached both Luol and Royal at the same time over 10 years ago. Alongside Coach Ivey and Mantegna we have been able to assemble one of the most talented coaching line-ups we’ve ever had at Deng Camp.


Manuel Peña Garcés (Spain) – EBL D1 Head Coach, Reading Rockets

Paul Middleton UK) – EBL D1 Head Coach, Manchester Magic

James Vear (UK) – GB U20 Men Assistant & EBL D1 Head Coach, Barking Abbey

Aurimas Verbukas (Lithuania) – U18 Men Head Coach, Manchester Magic

Ivan Cuesta (Spain) – Director of Coaching, Kent Crusaders

Adam Davies (UK) – U16 Boys Head Coach, Kent Crusaders

Neal Hopkins (UK) – EBL D1 Head Coach, Lancashire Spinners

Andreas Kapoulas (Greece) – GB U20 Men Assistant & BBL Head Coach, Bristol Flyers

Jordanas Mejeras (Lithuania) – Lead Coach, Baltic Stars

Dave Greenaway (USA) – England U16 Assistant & Head Coach, Nottingham Wildcats

Joe Mantegna (USA) – Head Coach, Blair Academy

Royal Ivey (USA) – NBA D-League Assistant Coach, Oklahoma City Blue

The TOP 50 invited players for this year’s camp will be published shortly so please stay tuned..