Updated Feb. 13, 2026, 2:20 p.m. CT
Finishing up his pregame warmup, Ousmane Dieng casually walked over to OKC’s side of the court. Usually, NBA players hate being disturbed so close to tipoff. After all, they’re creatures of habit. Working on his wrist motion, Chet Holmgren had no problem breaking away from his routine.
Dieng dapped up Holmgren. Soon afterward, he did the same with Lu Dort. Then OKC assistants David Akinyooye and Kam Woods. The 21-year-old even circled the perimeter to shake hands with the ball boys.
Only a week after he was dealt, Dieng returned to his first NBA home. He enjoyed some sweet revenge as the Oklahoma City Thunder limped to the All-Star break with a 110-93 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Dieng led the way in the matchup of short-handed squads as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo were sidelined with injuries. He had 19 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. He shot 3-of-6 from 3.
As the Bucks navigate through a miserable season with constant Antetokounmpo trade rumors poisoning the locker room vibes, Dieng’s arrival has served as a quick pick-me-up. The 22-year-old has taken advantage of his first consistent minutes in four seasons.
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Part of the NBA trade deadline circus, Dieng was moved several times. First, the Thunder dealt him to the Charlotte Hornets in a salary dump. He was then attached in a package part of the Coby White trade. And finally, he was rerouted to Milwaukee to give a team desperate for youth some fresh legs.
Before Dieng enjoyed a euphoric experience against his old team, he talked about his chaotic past week that has likely felt like a year.
NBA trade deadline palooza
“It was crazy. A lot of travel. I was in San Antonio. I got traded to the Hornets,” Dieng told Thunder Wire. “I spent four hours in my room and then went to Chicago when the trade happened. I was supposed to play with Chicago in Toronto.”
Don’t think anybody was surprised Dieng was traded. The writing was on the wall when he entered the 2025-26 regular season without a contract extension. On an expiring $6.7 million salary, he had a hunch that a move was going to be inevitable — both from recognizing Sam Presti’s behavioral pattern over the years and with a transparent conversation with the OKC GM.
“I knew it was a possibility,” Dieng said. “Sam called me right before the trade to Charlotte.”
Dieng’s goodbye to OKC
While Dieng’s move to Milwaukee makes sense for him from a basketball point of view, hard not to feel a flood of emotions when the trade happened. After all, he spent over three seasons with the Thunder. They were enamored enough by his intangibles that they traded a package of first-round picks to add him with the No. 11 pick of the 2022 NBA draft.
Alas, Dieng proved to be a textbook example of joining an NBA franchise at the wrong time. The Thunder quickly skyrocketed from a rebuild to an NBA champion within three years. That put the development project at an awkward spot where he wasn’t afforded the same luxuries as guys like Aleksej Pokusevski and Theo Maledon with learning on the job.
“Obviously, I was a little bit sad. Spent four years with those guys. Obviously a little sad but at the same time, excited to get a new opportunity,” Dieng said. “(Mark Daigneault) was thanking me and I was thanking him for those four years.”
Rooting for Nikola Topic
Dieng’s quick OKC Homecoming took a backseat. The story of the night — throughout the whole NBA on All-Star break Eve — was Nikola Topic. After battling testicular cancer for three months, he finally made his debut. The 20-year-old completed three rounds of chemotherapy to get to this point.
The Thunder added Topic with the No. 12 pick of the 2024 NBA draft. He missed the 2024-25 season recovering from a torn ACL. After a handful of Summer League and preseason games, the 20-year-old’s basketball ambitions took a backseat as he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in Oct. 2025.
Since then, he’s slowly checked off several boxes to finally log an NBA stat. This past week, he dominated in two G League games. That was enough to get him activated for the first time since he joined the Thunder. Dieng was excited to see his old teammate finally conquer so much to suit up.
“It was great seeing him play. Watched a little bit of the G League game three days ago,” Dieng said. “That was hard for him the last two years. He’s a really great guy. So I’m really happy for him.”