The Oklahoma City Thunder will sit out third-year forward Ousmane Deing for the remainder of the 2024 summer league, per head coach Daniel Dixon. This was always the plan for OKC.
Dieng concludes his third summer league stint with mixed results. He played all three games at Utah from July 8-10. He averaged 15.7 points on 34.6% shooting, six assists and five rebounds. He shot 40% from 3 on 6.7 attempts.
This is a little bit of a surprising decision but aligns with how the Thunder usually handle the Utah and Las Vegas split of their summer league tenure these last couple of years.
They prioritize the former for their prized players while the latter is more about letting the end-of-roster players get playing time. Dieng was one of the headliners of this year’s SL squad for OKC.
The 21-year-old is in his most important offseason yet. This season will essentially decide his future with the Thunder. After two years of development in the background, it’s time for Dieng to be an actual rotation piece next season.
If not, it could spell the end of Dieng’s tenure with the Thunder. He was viewed as a long-term project when he was selected with the No. 11 pick of the 2022 NBA draft.
The Thunder have at least four games left in the summer league from July 13-19. They could participate in more contests if they make the SL playoffs in Las Vegas.
