Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Ousmane Dieng was born May 21, 2003 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France. He is a small forward in the NBA.

Dieng grew up in Lot-et-Garonne, where his father, Ababacar, played basketball. At the youth level, he played for Villeneuve Basket Club and JSA Bordeaux. Dieng attended INSEP in Paris. He competed for its under-18 team at the Next Generation Tournament. In the 2020–21 season, Dieng averaged 12.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game for Centre Fédéral in the Nationale Masculine 1. 

On 1 June 2021, Dieng announced that he would play for the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League (NBL) in the 2021–22 season. He became the first European player to join the league's Next Stars program to develop NBA draft prospects. Dieng had also been recruited by major college basketball programs and the NBA G League Ignite. Dieng left the Breakers on 17 April 2022 in order to prepare for the 2022 NBA draft.

Dieng was selected with the eleventh overall pick by the New York Knicks, and was then immediately traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.