Milwaukee, with Ousmane Dieng eager to prove himself against the team he recently belonged to, defeated the Thunder in Oklahoma City, while LeBron James recorded a historic triple-double with the Lakers against Dallas on Thursday in the NBA.

Dieng shines, Topic finally begins

Frenchman Ousmane Dieng, whose father is Senegalese, distinguished himself with Milwaukee against his former team Oklahoma City, in an away win (110-93) which saw Serbian Nikola Topic make his debut for the home team after recovering from cancer.

The game lacked a bit of sparkle on paper with the Thunder side missing the reigning NBA MVP, Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who missed his fifth consecutive game due to an abdominal injury, and the Bucks' two-time MVP, Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed his ninth straight game due to a calf injury.

But, in the absence of these stars, the 22-year-old French winger posted a complete stat line with 19 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.

Perhaps the result of increased motivation linked to the past few days: last week, in less than 48 hours, Dieng was involved in no less than three trades, moving successively from the Thunder roster to that of the Hornets, then the Bulls, before finally landing with the Bucks, where he will have more opportunities to show himself.

AJ Green added 17 points and Bobby Portis scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, off the bench for Milwaukee.

Also without their All-Star guard Jalen Williams, OKC chased the score for almost the entire game.

Guard Isaiah Joe scored 17 points and center Chet Holmgren added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder, who remain atop the Western Conference with a record of 42 wins and 14 losses heading into the All-Star Game break.

Despite this setback, Oklahoma City fans were able to celebrate the long-awaited NBA debut of Nikola Topic, who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer before the start of the season.

The 20-year-old Serbian point guard was selected 12th overall in the 2024 draft, but missed the entire 2024-25 season due to a knee injury.

Topic received a standing ovation when he entered the game in the first quarter. He scored two points in 12 minutes and 22 seconds on the court.

"I'm really happy for him," said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. "He's obviously been through a lot in his life these past two years. He's a young man who wants nothing more than to play basketball, but that opportunity has been taken away from him several times. So the fact that he's worked hard to get to this point and managed to get back on the court is a great achievement."

James delivers again for the Lakers

The Lakers dominated the Mavericks at home (124-104), thanks to a historic performance by LeBron James, who became the oldest player in league history to achieve a triple-double.

At 41 years and 44 days old, "LBJ" racked up 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds against Dallas. The record previously belonged to Karl Malone, who, during the 2003-2004 season, achieved a triple-double with these same Lakers, at the age of 40 years and 127 days.

James' teammates did the rest: Rui Hachimura added 21 points, Austin Reaves scored 18 points and made six assists, and Jaxson Hayes added 16 points and seven rebounds to seal the Lakers' victory.

Without Luka Doncic and Cooper Flagg, the Mavericks suffered their ninth consecutive defeat, the Texas franchise's worst streak in 28 years.