I'm also curious what it is about Luol Deng the basketball player that equates him to a guy who will sell counterfeit merchandise out of the back of a shop. What's that even mean, especially when modified by "not in a bad way"?
I've been wondering this too.
The first thing I can think of is maybe he means you hear his name, look at his stats, and you think you're getting an All-NBA strong lockerroom leader, just a little beneath the LeBron/Durant/Carmelo tier (like a prime Paul Pierce or Danny Granger maybe), but what you're really getting with Deng is a player who is closer to Jeff Green.
You're looking in the store window and think you're getting a Paul Pierce model player, but what you're really getting is a Jeff Green model player. He sells himself like an alpha dog All-Star, but he's really a #3 player at best. But I don't mean that in a bad way, because Jeff Green is a classy guy and a good basketball player. He's just not going to be the All-NBA veteran leader you think he's going to be.
That would be my first (positive spin) guess on how it was meant, something along those lines anyway.
Of course I can also think of some ways that it could have been meant very negatively.