Just a week ago, Ousmane Dieng was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. In fact, the No. 11 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft was arguably having his best and most confident stretch as a member of the Bricktown Ballers.
Though, leading into the NBA Trade Deadline, everyone around Oklahoma City knew his time was coming to an end. Dieng is set for restricted free agency at the end of this season and there remained no role in the Thunder’s rotation for the 6-foot-10 swingman.
Oklahoma City has taken their time developing Dieng, mostly in the NBA G League where he led the Thunder’s G League affiliate, the OKC Blue, to their first G League title winning NBA G League Finals MVP.
Throughout his time in Bricktown, it was hard for Dieng to gain NBA minutes the team worked with the former lottery pick on “playing with more force,” a phrase Thunder bench boss Mark Daigneault and then-Blue head coach Kameron Woods uttered a lot when assessing his development.
While things never truly clicked in Oklahoma City at the NBA level, Dieng developed in a big way in the shadows of the program, from the G League to the high intense workouts conducted with Thunder assistant coaches and other low-minute players.
With that growth, and after a chaotic NBA Trade deadline, Dieng has found his groove in Milwaukee with back to back career nights.
The OKC Thunder traded Dieng to Charlotte in return for Mason Plumlee, who the Thunder waived to make room for Jared McCain. Dieng, was then re-routed to Chicago and against to Milwaukee. With the Bucks, Dieng has put up impressive numbers including on Thursday when he powered a Milwaukee blowout win inside the Paycom Center.
“We want guys to leave here and do well. We don’t want to be a program that has a reputation of leaving here and not doing well,” Daigneault said after Thursday’s game. “If guys leave here and do well, that’s good for us in a lot of different ways.”
On Thursday, Dieng posted 19 points, a career-high 11 rebounds, and career-best four blocks while dishing out six assists and swiping a steal on 60% shooting from the floor, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc after hitting a career-high five triples the night before and shooting 2-for-4 from the charity stripe in 37 minutes of action, where he was a +16.
“We spent a lot of time with [Ousmane Dieng]. We have a four-year relationship with him from our staff, teammates, everybody, and he was a great professional and did everything we asked him to do while he’s here,” Daigneault continued on Thursday. “So we want him to do well.”
It has yet to be seen what his role looks like in Milwaukee past this season, they have a big decision to make this offseason, but he is off to a great start with his new crew.