{"id":601370,"date":"2026-02-13T19:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/601370\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:12:14","slug":"why-okc-thunder-are-happy-for-ousmane-diengs-success-on-bucks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/601370\/","title":{"rendered":"Why OKC Thunder are happy for Ousmane Dieng’s success on Bucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 13, 2026, 12:00 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

\"Feb<\/p>\n

Despite a textbook closeout by Aaron Wiggins, Ousmane Dieng didn’t need much time to let off a shot attempt. A no-dip 3-pointer swished in. He enjoyed serving a slice of revenge pie just a little over a week after he was traded.<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> limped into the NBA All-Star break with a 110-93 loss<\/a> to the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo both out due to injuries, this primetime matchup became a must-watch for other reasons.<\/p>\n

One being Dieng’s return to OKC. The NBA schedule-makers did him a solid by making his return trip against the Thunder so soon after the trade deadline. After a couple of stops at the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls, he finally landed on the Bucks as part of the palooza.<\/p>\n

So far, Dieng has made the most of his new NBA home. He kinda has to if he wants to stick in the league. The 22-year-old’s first three-plus seasons were mostly spent riding on the bench. Inconsistent play and injuries plagued him from ever cracking OKC’s rotation.<\/p>\n

It was pretty obvious the Thunder would move Dieng as an expiring salary. Three games into his Bucks tenure, he’s shown the flashes he had in OKC can sustain for entire games. He had 19 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks against his old squad. He shot 3-of-6 from 3.<\/p>\n

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Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said the Thunder are glad to see him enjoy some early success. He’s always been a good teammate. Despite being a lottery pick who never really had a true chance to play, he kept a glass-half-full perspective on things. That’s never a given.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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. “If guys leave here and do well, that’s good for us in a lot of different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder quickly ascended from a rebuild to an NBA champion in Dieng’s time. Taken as a developmental project, he’s one of the guys who didn’t have the chance to learn on the job. Sometimes that happens in the NBA. But his first few games on the Bucks show he’s likely worth another contract.<\/p>\n

You even had Antetokounmpo waiting for him in the back tunnels to congratulate him on his big game. On a Bucks team desperate for young talent, the 22-year-old has been a breath of fresh air that it’s badly needed.<\/p>\n

“We spent a lot of time with Ous. 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 said. “So we want him to do well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 13, 2026, 12:00 p.m. CT Despite a textbook closeout by Aaron Wiggins, Ousmane Dieng didn’t need much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[72400,7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,30882,72482,72567,72404,72411,72408,72444,72422,72484,72565,72405,72485,72406,312,72403],"class_list":{"0":"post-601370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-oklahoma","12":"tag-oklahoma-city","13":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","14":"tag-oklahomacity","15":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","16":"tag-sstssportsnbathunder","17":"tag-sstsnokc-thunder","18":"tag-tagaaron-wiggins","19":"tag-tagbasketball","20":"tag-taggiannis-antetokounmpo","21":"tag-tagmilwaukee-bucks","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnba","24":"tag-tagoklahoma-city-thunder","25":"tag-tagousmane-dieng","26":"tag-tagoverall-positive","27":"tag-tagshai-gilgeous-alexander","28":"tag-tagsports-news","29":"tag-thunder","30":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116064914940273441","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}