Thunder made their stance on Ousmane Dieng crystal clear this summer

We all know how this is going to end
Ousmane Dieng, Oklahoma City Thunder
Ousmane Dieng, Oklahoma City Thunder | Alex Goodlett/GettyImages

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been busy locking up their championship roster this summer. One move, or rather the absence of a move, makes it crystal clear that the Thunder are ready and willing to move on from Ousmane Dieng.

The 2012 NBA Draft was an extremely important one for the Golden State Warriors. They added Harrison Barnes in the lottery, who started for their 2015 title team; they took Draymond Green in the second round, the second-most important player of the dynasty and the best defender of his generation. And sandwiched in-between? Center Festus Ezeli, who played backup center on two Finals teams but was clearly the odd one out.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had themselves one of those drafts exactly a decade later as they have built their own title team -- and potentially another dynasty. Chet Holmgren was taken second overall, and Jalen Williams went with the No. 12 pick. And right in-between was a third player, one mostly forgotten by non-Thunder fans: Ousmane Dieng.

The lanky forward was oozing potential when the Thunder took him with the 11th pick, but he has mostly failed to realize that potential. He has shown flashes of upside to be sure, but he has not put things together -- certainly not like Holmgren and Williams, but not like a consistent rotatin player on a contending team, either.

He was outside of the rotation entirely last season, and he looks to be on the outside of the team's plans again this year. While Holmgren and Williams have agreed to new contract extensions, and a number of their fellow players from the 2022 draft have done the same, any talk of an extension for Dieng has been met with crickets.

Yes, Dieng is nowhere near the level of player as those two, but it doesn't seem that negotiations are even taking place. And the reason is probably quite obvious: they need him on the most tradeable contract possible.

The Thunder are preparing to trade Ousmane Dieng

The Thunder are in an excellent position in terms of maintaining a title team, even in the punitive new environment of the second tax apron. Yet one drawback is that almost all of their tradeable salary is tied up in players they actually want to stick around.

Perhaps they could trade Isaiah Hartenstein with Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams and rookie Thomas Sorber behind him, but he played a very important role on last year's title team. The goes for Lu Dort; yes the Thunder are already preparing his replacement in Cason Wallace, but they need him right now and he was an All-Defense wing last season.

That leads to Ousmane Dieng. The 6'10" forward averaged a career-low 3.8 points per game last season and shot just 32.4 percent from deep; other teams likely are not banging down the door to trade for him. But if the Thunder see a player they want to go after, suddenly Dieng operates as expiring salary that doesn't harm their rotation in any way.

Dieng makes $6.7 million this season in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract. That's not a lot to use as matching salary, but the Thunder do have flexibility under the luxury tax and the first apron to take back more money than they send out. He could also be connected to someone like Kenrich Williams for a mid-tier trade target, or even to Dort in a larger deal to bring back a star-level player.

He's the one trade chip the Thunder have who is expendable, and that has value to Sam Presti and company. Unless he takes a massive leap this year, he is probably on his last year with the team -- but there may be a chance for him elsewhere. A trade could work out for the Thunder and for Dieng.

And in trading Dieng, a player they don't even use, the Thunder can once again take a title contender and add yet more talent to it. Presti is a wizard, and his magic could make the Thunder the next great dynasty in the NBA.