Lakers' Deng wants to buy Crystal Palace

It seems Luol Deng wants to emulate LeBron James as an NBA player with an ownership stake in a Premier League side. The Los Angeles Lakers veteran said his dream is to one day purchase Crystal Palace, despite preferring Arsenal when he grew up.

"I grew up three minutes from the Crystal Palace stadium and when I was young on match day there was a hill where we could watch the Palace through a gap in the stadium," Deng said, according to The Standard's James Benge.

"Since then I’ve been a huge Crystal Palace fan - Arsenal's my number one team, Crystal Palace is my second ... I've always said that if I become a billionaire I'm buying Crystal Palace - it's a dream of mine."

James - who's worth an estimated $275 million, according to Forbes - owns a minority stake in Liverpool.

While he isn't at that level, Deng should still be able to afford getting on board with an ownership group; he's earned about $100 million during his 13-year NBA career, per Basketball-Reference.

Crystal Palace already has a link to the NBA - one of its co-owners is Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris.

The 31-year-old Deng was born in South Sudan but spent his formative years in South London, apparently not far from Selhurst Park.