OKLAHOMA CITY — Lu Dort admits he’s gone a bit soft.
It’s hard to see, or even imagine.
Physically, mentally, spiritually — outwardly, let’s say — the 26-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder veteran remains as chiselled as ever, just as willing to take on the NBA’s toughest challenges defensively, and as steady in his countenance as they come.
Dort is an all-NBA defender and a fixture on the league’s best team in his seventh season. ‘Soft’ and ‘Dort’ seem like oxymorons, like concepts that simply can’t co-exist.
But it’s true, in at least one sense.
Years removed from the harshness of a Montreal winter, his seasonal resilience chipped away by high school in Florida, college in Arizona and playing professionally in Oklahoma City, where winters aren’t uniformly balmy, but the golf courses are open year-round, Dort’s parka game isn’t what it once was.
“The snow and the wintertime kind of went away from my head a little bit,” said Dort, laughing as we spoke Friday at the Thunder’s practice facility, as a massive (by local standards) winter storm was brewing, promising to shut down a city that sits three hours north of Dallas by car.
“I lost my toughness over … the snow in the winter,” said Dort, whose team is scheduled to host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. “But I know how to adjust. I know how to adjust.”
Dort’s ability to adjust has been the hallmark of his NBA career. He led Arizona State in scoring as a freshman but went undrafted when he decided to leave school after a single season. The Thunder saw potential in him as a defensive stopper, providing his perimeter shooting could come along. They signed him to a two-way deal after the draft in 2019, converted him to standard contract in 2020 and then signed him for five years and $84 million in the summer of 2022.
It’s worked out well for both sides. Dort has started every game he’s been available for since the 2020-21 season, was named first-team all-defence last season and shot 44.7 per cent from three-point range in the playoffs as the Thunder won their first NBA title in franchise history. The tweener guard would rank 14th in the 2019 draft class in win shares, ninth in minutes played and first in games started on a Finals-winning team, but he wasn’t drafted, of course.
Along the way, the soft-spoken native of Montreal-Nord has become an important member of a Thunder program has won more games than any team in the NBA over the past three years and counting. They rank as favourites to become the first team since the 2018 Golden State Warriors to repeat as champions.
His friend, teammate and Canadian national team co-star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has understandably earned a lion’s share of credit for the Thunder’s rise from 22 wins in 2020-21 to the league’s juggernaut. His second MVP award in a row is seemingly on lock, but Gilgeous-Alexander is the first to say that he hasn’t done it alone, and credits Dort for helping shape the Thunder’s character.
“He kind of gave us our identity,” Gilgeous-Alexander told me. “… Him and K-Rich [fellow OKC veteran Kenrich Williams] were the first guys here that brought that toughness and physicality to the game. And over the years we’ve added more guys like that and guys who have followed those two guys’ lead and obviously it’s kind of what we’re known for, our physicality and scrappiness defensively. That’s the on-the-court piece, and off the court he’s just a great guy, great teammate. His handprints are all over our success.”
The ultimate success came last June, with the Thunder’s championship win in seven games over the Indiana Pacers. Dort celebrated wrapped in a flag made of a Canadian and Haitian flag sewn together, representing his roots and his present. Later in the summer, he brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy home, providing proof that even from humble beginnings in one of Montreal’s most challenging neighbourhoods, big things are possible.
But even now, there are moments Dort still can’t believe.
“I mean, it happens a lot. I remember one time I was flying back home to Montreal, and I (had) redone an [outdoor basketball] court a couple years ago, and I was looking out the window on the plane,” he said. “And I saw a court that I did from in the air and stuff. So that was one of the moments that really hit me. I was like, ‘man, it’s crazy what I’m doing right now’. And then I’m so grateful and happy at the same time. But like, this happens sometimes … I just catch myself, it’s crazy. This is my life.”
Dort has given back in Montreal, serving as the sponsor of the club — Brookwood Elite — that he played for growing up and helping provide facilities for kids to play basketball today. During the Finals last June, his charitable foundation teamed with fellow Montrealer and Indiana Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin’s foundation to host watch parties back home.
He is giving back within the Thunder’s eco-system as well. He was the first Thunder regular to walk the development path the club has used successfully in several instances since: under-the-radar prospect, two-way contract, and G-League regular to main-club fixture. He’s willing to share the keys to that journey to anyone willing to listen.
One of the first keys is being willing to do it. Dort is a capable scorer — his NBA career high is 42 points and he scored 30 points in playoff game as a rookie — but recognized quickly that his path to success with OKC was through his defence and being willing to play a role offensively, even if it meant sacrificing some scoring. He’s taking roughly half the shots as a starter on the 31-7 Thunder as when he averaged a career-high 17.2 points for a 24-win Thunder team in 2021-22. But what his team needs comes first.
“I’m obviously 1,000 per cent aware of that,” he said. “But when I got here, I had to find a way to blend in and get some playing time and that was [the path] for me and just I had to adjust to that. But the fact that [the willingness to sacrifice] was contagious and it was touching so many guys and then it was helping myself at the same time it was helping the team, I was like, if I can succeed in that, I can put the team in a really good position and put myself in a good position. So, I’m aware [of the sacrifices], but it’s been good for my career and great for the organization and I’m loving it.”
His example has rubbed off. The Thunder remain one of the youngest teams in the league with a bevy of prospects they have drafted and signed trying to work their way into regular roles — the path taken by 2024 second-round pick Ajay Mitchell, now a vital rotation pick, serving as the latest example.
“The coolest part for me was talking to him in training camp, because he pulled his way up from the bottom of the totem pole,” says Brooks Barnhizer, a Thunder rookie on a two-way deal trying to follow the same road as Dort and now Mitchell. “It’s really cool to see to that he did that, but also that that he’s so willing to share the little stuff. In the games you can go to him and ask him whatever, so he’s had a very big impact on me, especially in my first year … it really shows who he is as a person and a player.”
The Thunder are in some ways a victim of their own success. The set their foundation by trading for a promising rookie in Gilgeous-Alexander to kick off their rebuild back in 2019 and added the pillars for sustained success by drafting and developing elite talent like Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. Signing key pieces like Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein put them over the top.
But the NBA’s salary-cap rules are unrelenting. As configured, the Thunder project to be on the hook for $181 million in luxury-tax payments for the 2026-27 season. They have a large talent pool in their development system and a large cache of draft picks — the Thunder will have three first-rounders in 2026 alone — to keep the pipeline stocked.
Rival executives look at the Thunder’s roster and salary situation and muse aloud if parting ways with Dort or Hartenstein — whose contracts for 2026-27 are team options — could save money and open roster spots for younger and cheaper players.
It’s not something Dort spends too much time thinking about, but he’s aware of the dynamics.
“I try myself to stay in the present, not to think about anything like that,” he said. “Those moments and conversations are always going to happen when the time gets here.”
“But this organization changed my life, and it’s been amazing. And I would like this to continue, but it’s out of my control, so I’m focused on playing basketball.”
On Saturday in Oklahoma City, there was no basketball to play, the big storm giving the Thunder a day off practice before hosting the Raptors on Sunday night as the city collectively huddled from a Canada-like cold and braced for more snow. For Dort, it was like the days he fondly remembers as a kid growing up in Montreal when a big storm meant a day off school before basketball took him to warmer places. The OKC version meant more time at home with his son, Lovell, who will turn one next month.
Being a first-time father has had an impact on him, as you might expect. It’s an experience he’s shared with Gilgeous-Alexander — whose son Ares turns two this April — as the one-time NBA youngsters move into full-blown adulthood together.
“Time flies. It’s crazy to see how fast life can change in a year or two years,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
“I mean, it’ s just [changed] the focus and the way that I approach anything obviously,” he said. “It’s a bigger purpose now, it’s a bigger motivation. I can’t wait to go back home after practice and games and stuff like that. I don’t want to be on the road like that as much anymore. So, you know, it changed a lot, and it’s amazing to see my little one grow.”
Turns out it’s not just the winter cold that has made Dort a softie.
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