OKC Thunder: Dort’s busy summer of honors, fun, giving back

It’s been a busy summer for OKC Thunder guard-forward Luguentz Dort who spent much of his time back home in Canada.

He represented his National Team at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament where he became a favorite of Team Canada (and Raptors) coach Nick Nurse. Although he came off the bench, as each game progressed Nurse increased Dort’s minutes and he was always on the court at the game end drawing the hardest defensive assignment.

OKC Thunder guard Luguentz Dort jam-packed offseason

Any Canuck that wasn’t fully aware of Dort’s talents prior to this summer became huge fans over the course of that qualifying tournament.

While Nurse was best known for his offense prior to becoming a head coach, the truth is he’s a defensive-minded bench boss. So the Nurse-Dort pairing was a match made in heaven.

The OKC Thunder will need to be careful when it’s time to re-sing Dort because Nurse will definitely be asking Masai Ujiri to target the defensive specialist. Hey, just like OKC struggles to draw free agents Toronto is in the same boat. The uptick in Canadian talent in the pros is something the fans North of the border are hoping will translate to drawing those players to return to their native land.

Dort is contracted through the next two seasons on one of the most economical deals for his talent. He’ll earn $1,78 M this season and $1,93 M in 2022-23.  Adding to the pull-in Toronto is two fellow Canadians are on the team who also happens to hail from La Belle Province (Khem Birch and Chris Boucher). Again, not trying to scare anyone but the Raptors, not the Lakers will have the draw when he reaches renewal time and he’ll be unrestricted.

Dort and Boucher honored:

Speaking of Boucher, he joined Dort at the end of August as the pair both received the Quebec National Assembly, Medal of Honor. Making the event all the more special was the ceremony that took place in Dort’s high school gym (Calixa-Lavallée High School). The Thunder guard grew up in a region of the Province called Montreal-Nord.

Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman offered a detailed article on the medal ceremony and the impact it had on Dort.

"“The medal was big, just because I got it in my neighborhood where I grew up,” Dort told The Oklahoman. “It was fun just to see everyone together.”"

https://twitter.com/luthebeast/status/1431695771137622017

Lu the Beast Basketball Camp:

Dort spoke to several local TV and media outlets about the ceremony as well as his first annual Lu the Beast basketball camp he held while he was in town.  The former Wildcat emphasized how hard work pays off and hopes he can provide inspiration to the youngsters — Dort said “I hope they can just fight through everything, all the ups and down, and make it, just like I did,”

The Canadian touched on how important it is to give back and how many young Canadian (and Montreal) talents are on the rise. The local station (City News) caught up with Dort during the Lu The Beast camp.

A trio of talents from Montreal will be under the microscope this season including fellow Arizona Wildcat, Bennedict Mathurin, Quincy Guerrier who’ll play at Oregon this season after transferring from Syracuse, and another transfer Olivier-Maxence Prosper who switches to Marquette from Clemson. All three will be on the Thunder radar given the ties to Dort and their copious draft picks.

Canadian sportscasters asked Dort about his social media showing him celebrating his local NHL team – the Montreal Canadians. But something that was revealed about the Thunder defensive specialist was he also played soccer growing up.  He believes if he’d stayed in the sport he’d be playing overseas now.

Lu played goalie for his soccer team but eventually fell in love with basketball and switched his full efforts to improving in that sport. While Dort was in Montreal, he and friend Boucher took in a CF Montreal match.

Another interesting tidbit arose out of his interview with Tim Micallef or Tim and Friends (Toronto). Micallef noted many Canucks review to OKC as Canada’s Western Conference team because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu’s presence on the club.

They touch on the request for the fan base to be patient while the horde of draft picks is conveyed but Lu stated he felt it was going to take less time than people think (for the OKC Thunder to turn things around and be competitive again).

It’s a great interview with the soft-spoken Dort and well worth catching.  Thunder Nation will be thrilled to welcome their defensive specialist back to OKC.