Ousmane Dieng shines in OKC Thunder win over Maccabi

The Oklahoma City Thunder finished up the home portion of their NBA preseason slate, for the second straight game playing a non-NBA foe in Ra’anana Maccabi. Mark Daigneault said before the game, this was intentional, for OKC to play in six preseason contests despite some teams like the Dallas Mavericks only having three. The OKC Thunder bench boss said the game reps are just “more valuable” to a team this young. One of those youngsters who shined tonight was Ousmane Dieng.

The OKC Thunder still have two preseason games left, both on the road in Detriot on Tuesday and San Antonio on Thursday. Those will be the final tune-ups for the Bricktown boys before they open up their regular season slate in Minnesota.

OKC Thunder beat Maccabi in the fourth preseason game behind strong showings from rookies Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat Maccabi 144-97, behind Ousmane Dieng’s 18 points, dishing out four assists as well as hauling in four rebounds. the rookie who was selected 11th overall after the OKC Thunder dealt three first-round picks to nab him, shot 66 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three.

Jalen Williams, who was selected 12th overall and missed the last game with strep throat returned off the bench to the tune of 15 points, four rebounds, and a jaw-dropping 13 assists as the only true point guard, a position he played at Santa Clara University.

Aleksej Pokusevski flashes a huge leap in production scoring 15 points, logging ten assists, and grabbing five rebounds, with a block on the defensive end at his center position. Poku shot 66 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep in this contest.

Lu Dort made his preseason debut tonight scoring 23 points while shooting 4-of-9 from distance looking like his old self after not playing since around the all-star break last season.

OKC is back on the road for their final two preseason games on Tuesday in Detroit and Thursday in San Antonio.