For undrafted rookie guard Lu Dort the road to Oklahoma City started in Canada went through Arizona State and now the power hybrid guard finds himself in the starting lineup for the Thunder.
It’s kind of a magical story for a Thunder team which now stands 27-19 for the season while in reasonable pursuit of the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the West in a year in which they were supposed to be tanking.
Five games ago after a sluggish homestand in which the Thunder showed little effort on defense—Billy Donovan inserted Dort into the starting lineup after a brief stay in the G League. The Thunder haven’t lost in those five games and head into Monday evening with a home game against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavs.
Dort has shown unique physicality, smarts, and toughness on the court for a rookie. And with each game you can see parts of his offensive game growing with confidence. You can call Dort a hybrid guard or you can call him a small power forward or you can call him a small forward. His defensive flexibility is a key to his career moving forward.
In reality–Dort has Russell Westbrook’s body with the role player’s game Westbrook had in college at UCLA. Dort is the perfect compliment to the three headed guard set Billy Donovan implements with Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Dennis Schroder.
I don’t know…you look at this team and every time they need someone to step up…someone steps up whether it be Lu Dort, Diallo, fellow rookie Darius Bazely, Nerlens Noel, or veteran Mike Muscala.
With the trade deadline getting closer everyone expects Danilo Gallinari to be traded in the coming days, but amazingly this team just keeps finding a way moving forward and winning games in the rugged West.
What makes it even more astounding this team is doing it on the road with a 13-10 road record to date on the season after starting 1-7 on the road. Stick that stat in your back pocket.
Thunder host Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavs on Monday night. I would say this is the most consequential game of the season so far.