Thunder's Ousmane Dieng Gives Back To Community Ravaged by April Tornado
Fresh off of his first season in the NBA, 20-year-old Ousmane Dieng was in Shawnee, OK, on Wednesday as part of an effort to help the community affected by the April 19 tornado that caused large amounts of damage to the central Oklahoma town.
Shawnee, which is less than 40 miles from OKC, was hit by a large tornado in April that destroyed a portion of Shawnee High School in addition to numerous homes and businesses throughout the city.
Despite having spent less than 12 months in the Modern Frontier, Dieng was at the Shawnee YMCA on Thursday to meet with children and help give away shoes, socks, Thunder drawstring bags and other basketball equipment. A video posted on Twitter by the Thunder showed Dieng played basketball games like knockout with the local community as part of his time in Shawnee.
"I love to give back to the community," Dieng said in another video posted by OKC's social media team. "Whenever I can and where I can, I will try to do it."
On Friday, Dieng was at the Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County to continue helping out the community, giving away more shoes and supplies to another group of kids. The 6-foot-9 wing once again took the time to play knockout with the Boys and Girls Club, drawing an fun reaction from the crowd as he jokingly threw down a dunk against his much younger opponents.
Despite not having a connection to the Oklahoma community prior to being drafted by the Thunder, Dieng has proved that he is more than willing to give more than his time on the court to local fans.
Dieng's high character and positive personality seem to fit with OKC general manager Sam Presti's "We draft people first, and players second," mantra. Last summer, the team traded three first-round picks to acquire Dieng from the New York Knicks who drafted the former NBL standout 11th overall.
Despite not making a huge impact on the court as a rookie, the Frenchman still has a wealth of potential and seems to have embraced that mentality and attitude that Presti and company covet.
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