How Will the Thunder Utilize the OKC Blue?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have assigned both Ousmane Dieng and Jaylin Williams to the Oklahoma City Blue. This isn’t new for the Thunder, and it’s not done in a disciplinary manner, but the Thunder have utilized the Blue to get their young players extra reps.

This system with rotating players through the Blue makes sense. The Thunder have seen players like Aleksej Pokusevski and Tre Mann use the reps to build confidence which shortly translated back into their game when they were called back up. It’s a system the Thunder like and believe is best, and with their roster that is loaded with young roster, it makes the most sense to maximize development across the board.

Looking at who was assigned, Dieng feels like a great choice to take an early stint with the Blue. He’d benefit greatly from using the extended reps and higher usage rate, so when he gets more minutes with the Thunder, he’s adjusted to the league and ready to make a name for himself. He was the 11th pick in the last draft, so he should be able to make the G League look slightly easy, as we saw Mann do last year.

Now for Williams being assigned to the Blue, this decision shouldn’t have been hard. He was a second-round pick, and proving himself early with the Blue could be a great route to proving his work ethic and ability to be a winning player. His long-term impact with the team could easily be a backup big man, and he can prove that value with his stint with the Blue, as he wasn’t getting much burn with the Thunder early in this season.

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