This summer, the OKC Thunder opted to bring back the vast majority of their championship roster for another go-around in 2025-26 and agreed to new deals with all but one extension-eligible player.
Despite seeing his fellow 2022 classmates Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren re-up with the organization on lucrative new deals, Ousmane Dieng remains untouched as far as his rookie-scale extension is concerned.
Considering how he has been gradually phased out of the rotation with every passing season, one should not anticipate seeing any deal come his way, thus meaning he'll be playing through the upcoming campaign on an expiring rookie contract.
As we approach regular season's tip-off, the expectation should instead be that the Thunder will look to offload his contract in some sort of pre-deadline trade, a move that could prove to be quite beneficial in light of the recent injury to Thomas Sorber.
Thunder should already be thinking about Ousmane Dieng trade
As a result of Sorber's unfortunate ACL tear, the Thunder will presumably look to apply for the league's Disabled Player Exception, which, if approved, would allow the club to add a player with a deal equating to 50.0 percent of the rookie's salary or the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Salary Exception.
Though such a tool could be quite valuable if used correctly, until they open up a spot on the depth chart, this luxury won't be able to be used at all, as the DPE grants a team a fixed amount of salary space, not an open roster spot.
Out of all the players who could possibly be moved in order to create an opening for any newcomer, Dieng is without question the most likely candidate.
Not only is he deadweight for the Thunder at this point, as he's coming off a season where he saw career-lows in points (3.8) and minutes (10.9) per game while shooting just 32.4 percent from deep, but, as far as complexities of making a deal happen are concerned, he's one of the easier talents to move being he's an expiring salary that, if offloaded, doesn't harm their rotation.
With the $6.7 million owed to him this coming season, using his contract as a matching salary for a worthwhile player might not be all that plausible.
However, with their payroll currently set at $177,250,234, they surprisingly still have flexibility under the luxury tax and the first apron to take back more money than they send out if they so choose.
If not, they could also consider packaging some sort of draft capital along with the former lottery pick in a mere salary-shedding, roster spot opening deal so they can look to bring on an outsourced player on the free agency market.
Regardless of which route they choose to possibly replace Sorber's roster spot down in the frontcourt, it seems that parting ways with Dieng via trade is a must.