It’s not every day that a team trades for a former 11th overall pick who is still just 22 years old like the Milwaukee Bucks recently did. After being moved several times before the deadline, Ousmane Dieng has found himself on the Bucks roster without a clear role. With the regular season winding down, the Bucks need to take a close look at the young forward.

Bucks need to let Ousmane Dieng spread his wings down the stretch

There’s a lot to like about Dieng. Again, he’s still just 22 years old, so he has plenty of room to grow as a player. Standing at 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot wingspan, the forward has some eye-catching attributes in a league that is all about length and athleticism. Averaging 12 minutes per game across four years with OKC, he never played a big enough role to show what he can bring to the table.

What makes Dieng so fascinating is that he’s mostly an unknown enigma. That’s what happens when a player is drafted so young and doesn’t play much. He could have All-Star potential right now and no one would know about it. The Thunder traded three first-round picks to acquire Dieng on draft night in 2022, so there was clearly something there that they liked.

The Milwaukee Bucks should aim to do what the Thunder simply didn’t: see what Dieng can provide in legitimate minutes. It hasn’t happened yet, as Dieng didn’t play at all in his first contest with the Bucks and was limited to just five minutes in mop-up duty in Milwaukee’s loss to the Magic. He’s largely been an afterthought in the rotation. A bird can’t fly in a cage.

His path to minutes features many obstacles. Even though Giannis Antetokounmpo is currently still battling injury, Bobby Portis, Kyle Kuzma, and Pete Nance are all ahead of Dieng in the pecking order. Nance has rightfully gotten some extended action amid a recent breakout, but one could argue that Dieng should eat a few minutes from Kuzma and Portis here and there.

The Milwaukee Bucks are quietly building a nice young core. Ryan Rollins, AJ Green, and Kevin Porter Jr. are the standouts, while Pete Nance and Dieng are the unknowns with lingering potential. The rest of the season should involve getting these players involved more and more, even if the team is intent on making a late push for the NBA Playoffs.

Trading for Dieng and letting him rot on the bench would be puzzling.

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