started, Deng agreed to a contract extension for six years and ($71) million. The agreement was announced by Bulls general manager, John Paxson. Paxson said in a statement "Signing Luol has always been a priority for this organization and we have always felt that he was a big part of our future. We are very happy that Luol will now be with us long term as we continue to grow as an organization." Due to injury, Deng played in (48) games. During the regular season Luol's scoring dropped to (14.1) points per game and his rebounding dropped to 6.0 per game. The Bulls made the playoffs, but Luol missed the entire playoffs due to injury. 2009–10 season Deng played in a total of 70 games during the 2009–10 season, also increasing his scoring and rebounding to 17.6 and 7.3 respectively, helping the Bulls make the playoffs again. He missed 11 straight games at the end of March because of a sprained right calf. During the first-round of the playoffs, Deng averaged (34.8) points per game along with (5.0) rebounds per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He scored (26) points in the final game, but couldn't prevent the Bulls being eliminated by the Cavs.<ref>LeBron, Cavs eliminate Bulls, face Celtics next on Yahoo! Sports; Withers, Tom (28 April 2010)</ref> 2010–11 season On 1 November 2010, Deng scored a new career-high 40 points, hitting (14) of his (19) shots, along with 9 of 11 free throws, against the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring a point a minute. On 24 February 2011, Deng scored 20 points, 10 rebounds, and hit the game winning 3-point shot with 16 seconds left on the clock in a game against the Miami Heat. Throughout the season, Deng significantly improved his 3-point shooting after coach Tom Thibodeau asked him to. In the past four seasons, Deng attempted 132 3-point shots, whereas this season he attempted 333, hitting 115 for a 34%. Deng finished the season averaging 17.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, being the third lead scorer for the Chicago Bulls behind Derrick Rose (25.0) and Carlos Boozer (17.5). This was also Deng's seventh season averaging double figures. During the first round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers, Deng averaged 18.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, being the second leading scorer of the team behind Derrick Rose. On 31 March 2011, Eric Bressman of Dime magazine called