Camping at the top of the key, Ousmane Dieng splashed a catch-and-shoot 3 to highlight a robust third quarter.
The second-year forward headlined the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 105-89 blowout loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday. He finished with a 17-5-5 line. The Thunder played shorthanded as they sat out Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams in the penultimate summer league contest.
“I thought it’s a good lesson for us that you can layer on as much as you want to layer but it always comes down to the foundation,” Thunder summer league coach Kam Woods said on what they could learn from their loss. “If the foundation is not good, none of the other stuff really matters.”
After an impressive win over the Indiana Pacers, the Thunder elected to sit out two of their best summer league participants. Their absence allowed Dieng and others to vacuum up extra possessions. Despite a slow start this game, the 2022 lottery pick strengthened his strong summer league campaign with another solid outing.
Two-way candidate Jared Butler was also another standout for the Thunder. He scored a game-high 22 points on efficient 8-of-14 shooting.
“I just tried to take what the defense was giving me and make simple decisions,” Butler said on his performance.
As a collective though, the Thunder struggled to generate quality offense. OKC shot 33-of-80 (41.2%) from the field but went 14-of-36 (38.9%) from 3. The offensive woes happened within the perimeter, as OKC went just 19-of-44 (43.1%) on 2-pointers without Holmgren and Williams.
The Thunder couldn’t keep up with the Wizards — both on the scoreboard and on the court. An 18-2 fastbreak advantage for the Wizards helped them quickly build a lead as large as 17 points. Washington rapidly created a 28-20 lead following the first quarter. A 27-19 fourth-quarter scoring advantage helped the Wizards seal the result.
Overall, Washington’s offense scored in flurries. The Wizards shot an efficient 36-of-67 (53.7%) from the field and went a sizzling 12-of-21 (57.1%) from 3. The Wizards took 13 fewer shots than the Thunder, but a 21-of-27 (77.8%) day from the free-throw line marginalized the shot-quantity difference.
The Wizards were led by their two most recent lottery picks. 2023 No. 7 pick Bilal Coulibaly had 19 points, three assists, four rebounds and four blocks. After a forgettable rookie season, 2022 No. 10 pick Johnny Davis dominated with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and went 4-of-8 from 3.
The Thunder dropped to 2-2 in the Las Vegas summer league with the 16-point loss to the Wizards. OKC is scheduled to play one more game against an unknown opponent.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades.