For all of trade season, talk among fans and pundits has revolved around who the OKC Thunder could potentially acquire before the February 6 deadline. From splashy second-unit scoring punches to established star talents, Oklahoma City has found itself linked to a number of quality names strewn across the league.
However, while finding an ideal trade target is certainly important, perhaps equally as vital is determining what would need to be offered up in a hypothetical exchange to land any coveted baller.
Fortunately for the Thunder, recent chatter seems to suggest that they have someone in Ousmane Dieng who, at least to the likes of Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz, could be of great interest to a team that, excitingly enough, rosters arguably the club's most oft-rumored target.
Thunder forward Ousmane Dieng tabbed 'realistic' trade target for Nets
In a recent piece, the seasoned B/R writer pegged Dieng as a "realistic" trade target for the Brooklyn Nets this season, and it's easy to see why.
On top of the fact that he's still just 21 years old and under a rookie-scale contract through next season, the youngster is only three years removed from going 10 overall in an admittedly highly talented 2022 NBA Draft and still seems to possess untapped talent that have yet to be realized.
Coming into the association, Dieng was tabbed as a highly versatile frontcourt talent who, thanks to his impressive ball handling skills and athleticism could be utilized as a three while his impressive 6-foot-10 frame coupled with a 7-foot wingspan could have him slide as far down as the five within a rotation.
Unfortunately, on this incredibly stacked Thunder team that has their sights set on a championship and, in turn, extends such a short leach to their youngsters, the France-born baller has yet to put his potential together.
That said, when given extended run down in the G League with the OKC Blue he's managed to absolutely flourish, as he went on to guide the club to a G League Championship while being crowned MVP along the way. Now in his follow-up, he's once again stuffing the stat sheets with 20.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.4 blocks on 46.2 percent shooting and 37.5 percent shooting from deep.
While there's a sizable gap in competition between the development league and NBA, there's a case to be made that what this production suggests is in order for him to reach his full potential at the professional level, a change in scenery may be necessary, especially if it leads to an organization that can provide him extended run on the floor with room to make mistakes.
The clearly rebuilding Nets may be one of the most ideal landing spots for such desires, as they could use for just about anything and everything from a young promising prospect and, as Swartz noted in his piece, Brooklyn "should be taking flyers on, hoping to find a diamond in the rough."
On the flip side, dangling the likes of Dieng in the club's direction, along with salary matchers and future first round picks, could prove to be just enough for them to finagle Cameron Johnson into a return package heading back out to the Sooner State.
For months now, the 28-year-old has been labeled as the key to the Thunder's title aspirations and, considering their need for more long-range shooting (rank 19 in the league) and tertiary scoring options, adding Johnson's 19.6 points on 42.8 percent three-point shooting clip to their arsenal could only help.
In many ways, a deal between OKC and Brookly this trade season could wind up being a win-win.