By Johnny Askounis/[email protected]

With two assists for a triple-double, Ousmane Dieng stood out for the Oklahoma City Thunder. His team defeated the New Zealand Breakers, 117-89, on Thursday night at Tulsa’s BOK Center.

After being named Finals MVP last season to complete the Oklahoma City Blue’s G League championship run, the 21-year-old French forward is working toward an expanded role with the Thunder during the 2024-2025 NBA regular season. In his third appearance of the 2024 NBA preseason, he recorded a double-double of 20 points, 10 rebound plus eight assists.

Dutch big Malevy Leons added 14 points, six rebounds and four steals. The German Isaiah Hartenstein was given some rest. In addition, the Serbian Nikola Topic (knee) and the Belgian Ajay Mitchell (ankle) were on the injury list.

After scoring 30 points in two preseason games, Finland’s Lauri Markkanen scored 26 points on 9/19 field goals, including four triples, to lead the Utah Jazz to a 107-102 victory against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out one assist in 28 minutes.

At FedExForum, the Charlotte Hornets defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 119-94. Serbian Vasilije Micic entered the starting lineup and scored four points, four assists and three rebounds in twenty minutes. French teammates Tidjane Salaun and Moussa Diabate had 13 and ten points respectively. For the hosts, Spanish Santi Aldama had ten points.

In other preseason action, Bennedict Mathurin scored 25 points to lead the Indiana Pacers to a victory, 129-117, over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

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