Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah: ‘It will probably be weird’ facing Luol Deng

The Chicago Bulls will be in Cleveland to face the Cavaliers Wednesday night.

It will be the first time the Bulls square off against their former teammate, forward Luol Deng.

The Bull dealt Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for center Andrew Bynum and picks. Bynum was released after the trade.

Bulls’ center Joakim Noah was very upset about the trade.

“It will probably be weird,” Noah told Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago after the Bulls’ 102-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night. “It will probably be strange but I still want to kick his ass right now. I feel like we’re working hard in the conference. I love Luol. He’s my brother. But when that ball goes up, he’s not going to be my brother when the ball goes up.”

Deng is averaging 19.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game and the Bulls know what a problem he can be for opponents.

“I know how fierce of a competitor he is,” Bulls’ head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I know he’s going to be trying to beat us and we’re going to be trying to beat him. And then after the game we’re going to visit. I have a lot of respect for him, all the stuff he did for us, what he did for me personally. But friendship aside, we’re coming up there, we’re going to be ready.”

The Bulls and Cavaliers will tip at 7:00 pm EST Wednesday.