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Hamidou Diallo has landed a three-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder after a solid performance during the Summer League.
The deal is worth $4 million over the course of the contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Second-round pick Hamidou Diallo of Kentucky will sign a 3-year, $4M deal with Oklahoma City, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 25, 2018
In five Summer League games for the Thunder, Diallo averaged 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 48.8 percent from the field. He didn’t showcase much of a perimeter jump, one of his biggest weaknesses while at Kentucky. He only took nine three-pointers, but made four of them.
“He was arguably the best rookie on the roster,” wrote Cody Taylor of USA Today.
Diallo had an unusual path to the NBA. He committed to Kentucky and moved up into the 2016 class halfway through the season, electing to redshirt for the second semester.
He came close to never playing a game for Kentucky, as he put his name into the draft in 2017, though he withdrew and returned to Kentucky. He would go on to finish fourth in scoring for Kentucky this past season, averaging an even 10 points per game.
The three-year deal is excellent news for Diallo, much like it was for another former Wildcat, Jarred Vanderbilt, who was also a second-round pick.
It shows that the Thunder are committed to giving Diallo time to develop and believe that with experience and more practice, Diallo can improve as a shooter and develop a better feel for the game.
Congrats to Hami on the big news!
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