Oklahoma City Thunder wing Luguentz Dort is preparing for a career-altering 2025-26 season. He has a club option for the 2026-27 campaign, but a contract extension and a departure from the team that signed him as an undrafted rookie will both be in play sooner than later.
With four of his teammates signed to long-term extensions, Dort officially has the leverage to ensure his own future in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder acted quickly to ensure that their star trio will be together for the remainder of the decade. Sam Presti signed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams to extensions that are guaranteed to keep them around until at least 2030.
The commitment to the core in place has inevitably posed the question: Is Dort the next player to receive a long-term commitment from Oklahoma City?
Dort has a club option worth $18,222,222 for the 2026-27 season that the franchise may opt to accept. One could argue that the odds of such a development increased when the Thunder signed fellow defensive specialist Alex Caruso to a four-year, $81 million extension.
What the Caruso extension has actually done, however, is empower Dort to operate with leverage in potential extension conversations of his own.
Thunder's contract extensions give Luguentz Dort undeniable leverage
One might argue that Dort became a bit more expendable when the Thunder acquired and later extended Caruso. Caruso is signed through 2028-29 and could thus occupy the 3-and-D role that Dort has become synonymous with in recent years.
Oklahoma City won a championship via strength in numbers, however, overwhelming teams with the sheer volume of high-level and even elite defenders it could throw at them.
Furthermore, Dort has a key advantage over Caruso that the Thunder can't afford to overlook: He's five years younger. The 31-year-old Caruso will thus be on the books until he's 35, while even a four-year deal that begins in 2027-28 for Dort would only have him until he's 32.
With this in mind, Caruso's four-year, $81 million contract extension should be right in line with what the Thunder offer Dort—a player whose leverage includes spending more years with the franchise.
The big question mark facing Dort and the Thunder is whether the franchise believes Cason Wallace will overtake the former Arizona State star in the starting lineup. If that were to transpire, then it would become difficult to justify having two players on the bench making more than $20 million per season.
That conversation could become even more complicated if Ajay Mitchell and Nikola Topic live up to the hype that's steadily building around their profound upside.
Moving pieces can't negate the value Luguentz Dort provides
For as noteworthy as those factors may be, Dort isn't an expendable talent who can simply be replaced by an individual with a different skill set. He's not just a 3-and-D wing, but one of the very best defenders that the NBA has to offer—and he's played every position from the 2 to the 4.
Dort secured All-Defensive First Team honors in 2024-25, hasn't even entered his athletic prime, and is fresh off of a postseason in which he may have been the Thunder's most valuable defender.
Dort spent more than 42 game minutes matched up against Jamal Murray, just over 35 on Tyrese Haliburton, and upward of 33 defending Anthony Edwards. Murray shot 16-of-42 on those possessions, while Haliburton went 5-of-14 and Edwards was a respectable 11-of-24.
Edwards' shooting was certainly stronger than Haliburton and Murray's, but it's worth noting that the Minnesota Timberwolves superstar went just 3-of-10 from beyond the arc against Dort.
Furthermore, Dort has played at least 71 games in each of the past three seasons—while Caruso has missed at least 24 in two of the past four. This is in no way an attempt to downplay Caruso's impact, but Dort is a younger player with a less extensive recent injury history and sweat equity with the franchise.
There are an abundance of moving pieces to consider, but Dort has more than earned an extension with the Thunder after watching his teammates receive the same.