2. Ousmane Dieng, Pick #11
When the Oklahoma City Thunder gave up three future first-round picks to the New York Knicks in exchange for the draft rights to the No.11 overall pick, they made the classic mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket with the selection of Ousmane Dieng.
If a team truly believes in a prospect, it’s hard to fault them for moving aggressively to get their guy, especially with a team loaded with as much future draft capital as the Thunder. However, when OKC also had the No. 12 pick and ended up selecting arguably just as good of a wing prospect in Jalen Williams, this decision starts to look a fair bit riskier.
Dieng was selected for his perceived upside more than his basketball ability out of the gate. He’s a project player and his track record certainly supports that belief. After a much-improved second half of a season with the New Zealand Breakers, Dieng piqued interest from several teams as a long-term investment.
But of course, that would also be ignoring the first half of the season where he appeared completely lost and inept on a court with other pro basketball players. His play in the Summer League did not do much to inspire confidence either, as he averaged just 11 points on 10 shots in his two games of action in Las Vegas.
Dieng doesn’t seem to have a mountain of potential on the defensive end of things either, and his playmaking also left a lot to be desired. In 46 minutes of Summer League play, he only recorded one assist, one steal, and one block.
I don’t want to cast any definitive criticism on Dieng based on such a small sample size, but it’s easy to see why a multi-faceted player like Terry may have a more successful career in the league as he provides value even when his shot isn’t falling. That much is especially true when a hungry Williams will be breathing down Dieng’s neck and hounding his mistakes for as many minutes as possible.