When Lu Dort initially stepped into the starting role, it was as a defensive stopper, filling the space left by Terrance Ferguson when he missed extended time in January for personal reasons.
Make no mistake, Dort is a solid defender. He’s played well against some of the league’s best scorers, most notably when he held James Harden to a historically bad shooting night in Oklahoma City’s win over the Rockets on Jan. 20.
But Dort is an emerging offensive talent as well, scoring a career-high 23 in a win over the Sacramento Kings and it’s been the steady improvement that has kept him in the starting lineup even after the return of Ferguson.
Chris Paul told reporters after Oklahoma City’s win over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night that Dort does the little things that sometimes go unnoticed and that “people don’t understand” how important he is.
“I can’t say enough about Lu and about how he makes all the plays that nobody else would. I just thought about that dunk. Even coming out in the second half, the first play that we ran, I kicked it to him in the corner. Early in the season he might have caught it and passed it, but he attacked and got a bucket. And people don’t understand how important that is, that he’s not just a defender.”
Dort scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes of play.
He threw down a dunk that brought the bench and the crowd to their feet with 4:44 left in the game and Oklahoma City with a 100-92 lead.
The Thunder will need to make a decision about Dort in the near future. His two-way contract only allows him to spend 45 days with Oklahoma City instead of the OKC Blue.
Earlier this month, Billy Donovan revealed that Dort was not practicing with the team in order to maximize his time with the Thunder.
