NEW YORK — France’s Ousmane Dieng, a 6’10” ball-handler, is arguably the top prospect in this class who played overseas last season.
Dieng is projected at No. 8 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans in recent mock drafts from The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. According to Givony, Dieng “wowed New Orleans in a private workout in Miami several weeks ago” and could be an intriguing developmental project for the team.
Having only recently turned 19 years old, he already has an impressive resume. Alongside big man Victor Wembanyama, the projected top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Dieng helped lead France’s squad to take home the silver medal at FIBA’s U16 European Championship.
Dieng, who also has experience playing lower-tier basketball in France, left his home country and signed to the Next Stars program (a pipeline that has recently sent LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey to the NBA) in Australia’s NBL.
Despite a slow start to the season while adjusting to the high level of play, Dieng turned on the jets down the stretch. He had multiple 20-point scoring outbursts — recording 22 points with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals against the South East Melbourne Phoenix on April 10.
With his blend of size and on-ball ability, scouts are rightfully intrigued. When including passes, per Synergy, Dieng finished more than one-third of his half-court possessions as the ball-handler in pick and roll sets. Dieng also averaged 1.39 points per possession facing single-coverage in isolation. That was the most efficient mark among all players in the NBL who had at least 15 attempts.
Dieng struggled when shooting off the catch, and he had some limitations guarding the perimeter and the point of attack. However, there is a reason why respected analysts like The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor and NBA Big Board’s Rafael Barlowe feature Dieng in their personal top-10 rankings.
During a recent conversation with Dieng on Zoom and then an in-person follow-up in New York City before the 2022 NBA Draft, we got to know the promising young talent.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
