Sam Presti Believes Ousmane Dieng on 'Right Track'

Oklahoma City selected Ousmane Dieng with the No. 11 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Thunder knew the second that they turned the draft card in, Dieng would be a project.

The NBL product entered the NBA with a unique set of skills, playing as a guard despite his 6-foot-11 and 222-pound frame. Though quickly, the Thunder's roster not just improved but grew too quickly with ball-dominant players such as superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams.

This thrusted Dieng into a new country, a new team, a new system and a new position with the Thunder's goal being to play the 22-year-old in the front court.

Oklahoma City has seen the France product shine in the G League both at his natural on-ball spot and in a reduced off-ball role more similar to his NBA trajectory. While Dieng has shown flashes at the NBA level inconsistent production and injuries have hindered him from carving out a long-term role in Bricktown.

Dieng is entering the final season of his rookie-scale contract on an expiring $6.6 million deal before hitting restricted free agency next summer. Historically, Oklahoma City has not let players hit the restricted free agent market either inking them to long-term pacts or trading them away prior to reaching that destination.

Most recently, this occurred with Josh Giddey. The no. 6 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft who didn't see eye-to-eye with the Thunder's long-term vision for him on a stacked roster. General Manager Sam Presti shipped the lottery pick to Chicago in exchange for defensive ace Alex Caruso, who played a major role in the Thunder's championship run.

At his end-of-season press conference, Presti was asked about Dieng entering an important season in his career.

"Yeah, it's a great example. He had some great moments for us this year in real rotation minutes, minutes he could not have provided the year before. I like his path because when we drafted him, he was maybe the youngest or one of the youngest players in that draft class, so we knew this was going to take some time. He also was coming from overseas, which is another factor you have to kind of bake into the pathway just with language and some different assimilations," Presti said. "I feel pretty good about where he is. I wish he had more time when we had those injuries because when he did get those chances, he had a huge game against Dallas. We wouldn't have won that game against Dallas. I think he had one against San Antonio that was really good, maybe Denver. He was contributing to winning. That's all you can ask for from these guys."

"I think he's on the right track. Now, his biggest change to me is just his body, his physical. He's really, really changed his body and that's through a lot of hard work, and that's, I think, given him a different level of confidence which has helped him play in these games," the Thunder's top executive continued.

This has been the constant messaging around Dieng when asking Presti, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and Blue head coach Kameron woods about the swingman. Everyone seems to be on the same page that while it is happening in the shadows of the G League primarily, Dieng is improving as expect. No one expected a microwave success for the youngster.