Ousmane Dieng Held Scoreless in Thunder Return
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Ousmane Dieng made his return to the NBA roster Saturday night when OKC visited Houston to begin a short two game road trip.
Dieng spent a good chunk of time playing down with the Oklahoma City Blue in the G League.
He was acquired from the New York Knicks first round pick in this most recent draft, which came to be the No. 11 pick.
It was known at the time that he was set up to be a project pick hailing from France. He’s entering the league at just 19-years-old to begin his NBA career.
In his return to the Thunder roster, Dieng played 21 minutes in the OKC big loss to Houston. However, his 21 minutes didn’t turn into a productive outing.
Dieng went 0-for-4 from the field with no points scored. He did record three boards and two assists to his stat line, but overall his outing wasn’t offensively productive.
His plus/minus came in at a minus-6.
Dieng has now played in 10 NBA games in the young season. He is now averaging 3.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
While his NBA numbers have not been ideal, his numbers with the Blue have been impressive. He’s averaged 14 points, 7.5 boards and 3.8 assists.
Dieng is still working to adjust to NBA competition, a major higher level than he previously did internationally.
Dieng has shown clear promise at times to be a productive young player with the Thunder, but has also shown he has a ways to go before he reaches that point.
Not only is he adjusting to the NBA overall, he is now readjusting to the Thunder as a whole coming back from the Blue.
Dieng is expected to remain called up as the Thunder travel to New Orleans on Monday.
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