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USA Today
6 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2024-25 Thunder player grades: Ousmane Dieng
The calendar has flipped to August, which means we've officially hit the low point of the NBA cycle. The next couple of months are the driest part of the year. Everybody has headed to vacation and awaits training camp to kick off the 2025-26 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to enjoy their NBA championship. They had a historic 68-14 regular-season campaign that eventually led to the franchise's first title with a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7 win. They'll enter next season as a favorite to be a rare repeat winner. To reflect on their title run, Thunder Wire will conduct 2024-25 season grades for all 19 players who suited up for the squad at one point during the year. Twelfth up is Ousmane Dieng, who had another forgettable season: 2024-25 statistics: Advanced stats: Significant Percentile Finishes: Contract: Thoughts: When asked about Dieng at his end-of-season press conference, you can feel Sam Presti's admiration for him through his answer. He'd cite examples from games that happened months ago. Most Thunder fans have given up on the 22-year-old, but not OKC's GM. The rule of thumb is that a player's third season is when they take the biggest leap of their career. But in Dieng's case, it was mostly the same as his first two years. No real minutes from inconsistency and dealing with injuries. At this point, he's run out of time to establish himself as a rotation player in OKC. It was another year where Dieng played sparingly. He logged 37 games, as a finger fracture and calf strain cost him around two months of the season. He's yet to cross 40 games played in a season since his arrival in OKC. He's only totaled 109 career games in three seasons. From the Thunder's historic 2022 draft class, Dieng is the odd man out. He hasn't lived up to his lottery status. Considering how much of a developmental project he was when selected, there was always going to be a grace period as he caught up to speed in the NBA. But he's run out of time. Sometimes that happens with these super young and raw prospects. It's unfortunate, too. Dieng has shown flashes in his tenure. This season was the best he's looked. He no longer played with hesitancy and made the right decisions on the court. He looked like a fleshed-out rotation player at times with his outside shot. This season saw him play the fewest number of G League games he's had to. In previous seasons, Dieng needed to be a ball-handler to be productive. While he could do that in the G League, those touches weren't afforded to him on the Thunder. That sudden shift in role was detrimental to his NBA minutes. But this season, everything looked smoother. He played within the flow of the offense. It looked like he could be a quality backup forward. Alas, if that's to happen, it likely won't be on the Thunder. They're rich with that archetype of a player. That makes it redundant to wait on Dieng to fully develop when they have other bench forwards who contributed to an NBA championship run. It may be time for an eventual fresh start. Moving Forward: Out of all the players the Thunder added in their recent rebuild, Dieng might be the biggest victim of being added at the wrong time. It's not his fault they quickly ascended into a title contender during his three seasons. That gave him little room to grow on a team with such high expectations. Maybe if Dieng had joined the Thunder a couple of years prior, he'd log in a thousand-plus minutes to develop. A low-leverage environment is exactly what he needs to learn on the job without the pressure of wins. But that's all hypothetical. What's reality is that OKC took a swing on the 22-year-old, and it turned into a quiet miss. Considering Dieng is about to enter his fourth season, there's no real road to improvement for him. He's buried on the depth chart of an NBA champion that's running it back with mostly the same roster. Barring the unforeseen, he likely won't be able to pencil in a rotation spot. That leaves Dieng in a position where he could eventually be moved. It doesn't make a lot of sense to give him a contract extension, even if it's a buy-low deal. There are too many other important roster decisions ahead to worry about that. More likely, the Thunder use the 22-year-old's expiring salary as a trade chip down the road. The Thunder may still love Dieng and his potential, but they won't be materialized in OKC. If he can become a bench forward who can spread the floor and drive to the basket, it'll likely have to happen at his next stop. He's still young enough to be worth a flyer at another team. Final Grade: C-minus
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2024-25 Thunder player grades: Kenrich Williams
The calendar has flipped to August, which means we've officially hit the low point of the NBA cycle. The next couple of months are the driest part of the year. Everybody has headed to vacation and awaits training camp to kick off the 2025-26 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to enjoy their NBA championship. They had a historic 68-14 regular-season campaign that eventually led to the franchise's first title with a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7 win. They'll enter next season as a favorite to be a rare repeat winner. To reflect on their title run, Thunder Wire will conduct 2024-25 season grades for all 19 players who suited up for the squad at one point during the year. Eleventh up is Kenrich Williams, who helped the Thunder win a championship with rich depth: 2024-25 statistics: Advanced stats: Significant Percentile Finishes: Contract: Thoughts: One of the longest-tenured players on the roster, Williams had the chance to see the Thunder grow up from a rebuild situation to an NBA champion. Most role players don't get that opportunity. Instead, they get moved pretty early in the process. The 30-year-old has stayed with the franchise and was rewarded for his stint. Dealing with injuries last season, Williams had a bounce-back year. He helped the Thunder juggle through injuries by being a reliable bench player who could occasionally start. The veteran wing was the right mix of being a solid defender who could also knock down his catch-and-shoot looks. While his minutes have slowly declined over the years, that speaks more about the Thunder's rich depth. It affords the 30-year-old a chance to rest during the season. His style of basketball comes at the cost of dealing with small injuries throughout the year. They can be cautious about his recovery because they have other guys who can step up. The lower mileage on his legs helped Williams stay fresh for the playoffs. He had a disappointing postseason debut last year. He slowly fizzled out of the rotation, despite fans clamoring for more minutes. He redeemed himself with key moments throughout the Thunder's title run this year. Williams shined in the playoffs. Even though he was at the end of the rotation with the occasional DNP, he did his part to secure a championship. The role player was matchup-friendly against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Indiana Pacers in their playoff series. Their lack of frontcourt size allowed OKC to go smaller and spread the floor. He fit that brand of basketball perfectly. Originally just a throw-in name in the 2020 Steven Adams to New Orleans Pelicans deal, Williams has worked his way up from a possible roster cut to a six-plus-year Thunder player. It's rare to see a role player leave such a huge impact on an NBA franchise, especially on his non-original squad. Williams' blue-collar personality has related to Thunder fans. His haircut and shy personality have endeared him to them. Always leaving it all on the floor, he helped set up the grounds of what eventually became one of the greatest defenses the NBA has ever seen. Moving Forward: See how much you can repeat last year's success. That's going to be the goal for about every Thunder player. They had one of the best seasons the NBA has ever seen. Williams played a role in that by being another bench piece who added to their rich depth. At this point, Williams is who he is. Not much real room for growth for the 30-year-old. He's a versatile wing who can defend and shoot the ball from the outside. Those types of players are always needed on every NBA roster. Like a lot of the Thunder's roster, he was another one of their more underrated developmental success stories. The outside shot has found its form on the Thunder. That's been the skill that's kept Williams in the league this long. While he might not be a high-volume outside shooter, his solid percentages make him somebody opposing defenses must keep an eye on. Williams was on the cusp of being out of the NBA after his second season. Instead, he took advantage of his fresh start in OKC and carved out a lengthy career. Only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort predate him on his time with the Thunder. As the Thunder get more expensive, players like Williams can help round out a contender. Soon, there will only be about 15% of the payroll to fill out 12 roster spots. Having a reliable forward on a team-friendly deal is one of the best ways to stay relatively deep without becoming too top-heavy a team. Final Grade: B
USA Today
2 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2024-25 Thunder player grades: Jaylin Williams
The calendar has flipped to August, which means we've officially hit the low point of the NBA cycle. The next couple of months are the driest part of the year. Everybody has headed to vacation and awaits training camp to kick off the 2025-26 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to enjoy their NBA championship. They had a historic 68-14 regular-season campaign that eventually led to the franchise's first title with a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7 win. They'll enter next season as a favorite to be a rare repeat winner. To reflect on their title run, Thunder Wire will conduct 2024-25 season grades for all 19 players who suited up for the squad at one point during the year. Tenth up is Jaylin Williams, who helped the Thunder win a championship with rich depth: 2024-25 statistics: Advanced stats: Significant Percentile Finishes: Contract: Thoughts: Turning into Mr. Triple-Double when given the chance, Williams's lack of playing time had more to do with the Thunder's rich depth than his talent. A handsome contract extension signed this offseason shows the NBA champion is still a believer in his impact. Penciling out the rotation, it was difficult to imagine how Williams would get consistent minutes. After all, he might've been overqualified for the job, but he was the third-string center behind Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. And then the Thunder were constantly bitten by the injury bug all season. That opened a lane of minutes that the 23-year-old soaked up. Despite averaging just 17 minutes, Williams hit career highs across the board. He was another Thunder role player who had his best season yet. Juggling injuries, he helped the Thunder stay afloat at the center position. He was a solid backup big who could run the offense with DHO actions and timely backdoor passes. Off the ball, Williams was another catch-and-shoot threat. Each time he sank an outside bucket, he'd yell his patented boom celebration like the Costco kids. He's turned into a sharpshooter from the outside as a near 40% shooter on decent volume. The defense might struggle at times, but the Thunder can afford to mask Williams. They built out one of the greatest defenses ever and have several high-quality defenders to make up for the 23-year-old's struggles. Plus, the drawn charges might not be what they used to be, but he can still pull that card out occasionally to force turnovers. After a decent regular season, Williams' importance increased in the playoffs. He provided the Thunder another look. He was a matchup weapon that helped them edge out the Denver Nuggets in their high-intensity seven-game playoff series. He was another body to throw at Nikola Jokic, who was abnormally inefficient for most of the series. There's also the locker room intangibles. Fans don't truly see the dynamics, but the Thunder have gone out of their way multiple times to emphasize how important Williams' personality was to gelling their group together. Most players at his spot could've had an ego about his role demotion. After all, he was a serviceable bench player his first two seasons who showed signs of growth. Instead, Williams remained a huge positive influence in the locker room. To the point that most Thunder players point to him as the most upbeat guy on the team. The traditional postgame interviews would go viral on social media solely off his reactions. That type of buy from one of your better players helped the rest of the roster stay on the same page to eventually win a championship. Moving Forward: Just repeat the same stuff. When you win an NBA championship, you need several role players to have career seasons. Williams was one of those guys. He was an end-of-bench guy who'd have a larger role in most other places. What should excite the Thunder is that he's still young enough to have more room to grow. They're banking on that. The Thunder committed to Williams for the long-term future this offseason. He was signed to a contract extension. It was a little bit of a surprise, honestly. It might also show that they think he could return as the backup center if Hartenstein leaves after next season. But that's a while away. For this upcoming season, Williams should build off of what he did. Expect a similar role as the third-string center who gets rotation minutes. The playmaking is too valuable not to have on the floor at all times. He can help the Thunder's bench lineup remain steady and also be an addition to what the starters do by being a kick-out option. The outside shot has helped Williams carve out an NBA career. If he can produce the same numbers, he'll be somebody you can rely on. That's been his best singular development. It's turned him into an actualized role player who could have a long career. If you're going to be a role player, you have to show reliability to knock down outside shots. He's done that. Maybe Williams can improve on his efficiency. He's pretty below average as a center in that area when looking at his shooting numbers. But that's easily explainable when you look at his shot diet. He takes mostly outside shots, so that naturally reflects on his main shooting splits. He's more of a forward tweener anyway than a traditional backup center. When you rebuild, you need to win on the margins. Williams' development perfectly fits that theory. The 2022 second-round pick has become one of the Thunder's best developmental stories. His role over the years has always changed. From starter to backup center to third-string center. Regardless of what OKC needed out of him, he's always delivered. That's such a roster luxury to have. Final Grade: B-plus
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2024-25 Thunder player grades: Isaiah Joe
The calendar has flipped to August, which means we've officially hit the low point of the NBA cycle. The next couple of months are the driest part of the year. Everybody has headed to vacation and awaits training camp to kick off the 2025-26 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to enjoy their NBA championship. They had a historic 68-14 regular-season campaign that eventually led to the franchise's first title with a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7 win. They'll enter next season as a favorite to be a rare repeat winner. To reflect on their title run, Thunder Wire will conduct 2024-25 season grades for all 19 players who suited up for the squad at one point during the year. Ninth up is Isaiah Joe, who was OKC's best outside shooter and had a career season off the bench: 2024-25 statistics: Advanced stats: Significant Percentile Finishes: Contract: Thoughts: Celebrating the NBA championship in his Arkansas hometown, Joe is another one of the Thunder's developmental success stories. From being a late 2022 training camp invite to an important role player, he was another guy who had a career season that ended with a ring. Joe averaged career highs across the board. It was his first double-digit scoring season. The 26-year-old upticked his outside shooting volume, and it paid off. He shot 41% from the outside on over six attempts. Pretty impressive stuff. Only five other players reached those numbers last season, headlined by Kevin Durant. Everything came together for Joe. He benefited the most from the defensive attention Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams received. He lit up the baskets with his catch-and-shoot looks. That has always been the case since he arrived in OKC three seasons ago. He's the exact type of player you want to surround drive-heavy scorers as a kick-out option. That likely explains why he's always a plus-minus darling. The Thunder saw Joe become a more threatening scorer. Before this past season, he had zero 30-point outbursts. In this year alone, he had four and scored a career-high 33 points. You always need role players to have career campaigns to compete for a championship, and that's what happened here. Playing a two-man action with Isaiah Hartenstein in the bench lineups also opened a new flavor to his shot diet. Joe received plenty of quality looks from simple DHOs run by the seven-footer. Reminiscent of his time with Donte DiVincenzo, Hartenstein was able to direct the sharpshooter through traffic and let off good looks from deep. Joe is also a sneaky athlete. He had a few poster-worthy dunks. The 26-year-old showed his driving in transition. He could surprise folks and put the ball down instead of just being a textbook outside shooter only. The defense is questionable at times because of his skinny frame, but the Thunder can stomach a couple of below-average defenders. He's really found a role in the NBA and has been one of OKC's better finds in its rebuild off the waiver wire. Moving Forward: Just keep doing what you're doing. That's been the message for the entire Thunder roster. When you have such a historic season, you hope to replicate it. For Joe, that means continuing to be a high-volume outside shooter who makes defenses pay for collapsing into the paint. While he's not one-dimensional, Joe's bread and butter will always be his outside shot. It's what saved his NBA career. It's what landed him a hefty contract extension last summer. He was the perfect bench player who could help the offense mitigate Gilgeous-Alexander's resting. His off-ball movement forced defenses to always keep an eye on him. Consistency and availability are two important variables in Joe's favor. Knock on wood. He's played 70-plus games for three straight seasons and averaged a career-best 22 minutes last season. Even with his playoff struggles, that type of reliability is immensely valuable during the grind of the regular season. To have a sharpshooter soak up so many minutes helps everybody out in the long run. There was some online chatter that the Thunder should move Joe after his inconsistent playoff run. He only averaged 10 minutes and slowly fizzled out of the rotation with a handful of DNPs. The outside shot became unreliable. But you can't throw away his regular-season production. Especially after you won the championship. Joe has proven to be a consistent role player who can spread the floor. Outside shooting is always a hot commodity in the NBA. The Thunder have that in him on a team-friendly salary. No point in getting rid of that simply because he had a bad two months. He's OKC's most talented outside shooter and has contributed to winning at a high level. Now it's about repeating that production for next season. Final Grade: A
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
2024-25 Thunder player grades: Aaron Wiggins
The calendar has flipped to August, which means we've officially hit the low point of the NBA cycle. The next couple of months are the driest part of the year. Everybody has headed to vacation and awaits training camp to kick off the 2025-26 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to enjoy their NBA championship. They had a historic 68-14 regular-season campaign that eventually led to the franchise's first title with a 2025 NBA Finals Game 7 win. They'll enter next season as a favorite to be a rare repeat winner. To reflect on their title run, Thunder Wire will conduct 2024-25 season grades for all 19 players who suited up for the squad at one point during the year. Eighth up is Aaron Wiggins, who had a career season off the bench: 2024-25 statistics: Advanced stats: Significant Percentile Finishes: Contract: Thoughts: Being the talk of training camp, a lot was made about Wiggins. The Thunder begged him to do more. They saw his efficiency stats since his arrival and believed he could handle a larger workload. Boy, they were right. The 26-year-old joined the long list of OKC role players who had a career season last year. After dealing with an inconsistent role his first three seasons, Wiggins blossomed into a microwave scorer. He had career highs across the board. It was the first time he's averaged double-digit points. It was the most minutes he's averaged since his rookie season. Despite a historic season, the Thunder still had some roster flaws they had to work through. One being a lack of a bench ball-handler. Wiggins helped mitigate that problem. There were times you could argue he was OKC's third-best go-to scorer behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. He can create his own buckets. His drives to the baskets resulted in fancy finishes through defenses. The outside shot was also a friend to Wiggins. He could catch fire in a hurry. He was one of the Thunder's better catch-and-shoot options. He also showed he didn't need to be set up by shooting off the dribble. After averaging less than two 3-pointers the last two seasons, he exploded for nearly five attempts a game this season. Exactly what OKC hoped for. While the numbers dipped in the playoffs, that comes with the territory. Wiggins' production might've been slashed in half, but he remained in the Thunder's rotation. He had his moments throughout the postseason as somebody who scored a big bucket when OKC's offense dried up. All those points were valuable in the close wins he helped them get. When Wiggins got into a groove, he was unstoppable. He had zero 30-plus point games in his first three seasons. He had three this year alone. That includes a career-high 41 points. There are some nights when he looks closer to an All-Star than a role player. That's how much he's developed into a shot-maker. Moving Forward: This sounds cliche, but keep doing what you're doing. Winning an NBA championship requires that several players on the roster have career seasons. Wiggins was one of those players for the Thunder. He was one of their top bench players and started in 26 of his 76 games. Consistency and durability are two factors teams love. Wiggins has nailed both. You know what you get out of him most nights. Juggling through injuries, the 26-year-old was always reliably there. Knock on wood, but those two variables have made him a valuable rotation member. It's been quite the journey for Wiggins. He went from a forgettable 2021 No. 55 pick to being the last player left in OKC from his draft class. Most players in his draft range fizzle out of the NBA in a couple of years. Instead, the 26-year-old has been one of their better developmental stories in franchise history. Expect Wiggins to have a similar role and production next season. He's always been a reliable outside shooter and has leaped to a new level with his on-ball creation. His savvy off-ball movement also makes him a weapon in the halfcourt with timely cuts to the basket. The defense may be questionable, but the Thunder can afford a couple of below-average defenders, especially in the regular season when you can hide them. The Thunder signed Wiggins to a team-friendly contract last offseason. They've already received their money's worth with what he did last season. He's always been one of the more underappreciated guys on their recent rebuild. He's quietly developed in the background and has now cemented his spot in the NBA. Final Grade: A-plus
