Amid Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s otherworldly production, Chet Holmgren’s third-season progression and Oklahoma City’s blazing-hot start, it might be easy to overlook Luguentz Dort’s contributions.
But Dort continues to be a major piece of the Thunder’s success. He figures to be in the center of Oklahoma City’s attack again when it hosts the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.
“Lu’s impact is unwritten a lot of nights,” Holmgren said. “It’s things that don’t show up — the ball pressure, putting teams under a rush, getting them up against the shot clock because he’s just blowing up actions. That’s huge for us. It doesn’t always show up in the numbers, but it shows up on the scoreboard, for sure, a lot of nights.”
Dort is a big reason why the Thunder have an NBA-best 104.5 defensive rating — points allowed per 100 possessions — and also lead the league with a +15.2 net rating.
Oklahoma City enters Wednesday’s game on a six-game winning streak that began with a 132-101 victory Nov. 7 at Sacramento.
During the streak, the Thunder are winning by an average of 21.3 points. None of the games have been decided by fewer than 13 points.
Gilgeous-Alexander, while still near the top of the league averaging 31.9 points per game, has needed to play in the fourth quarter just once during the winning streak.
In Monday’s 126-109 win at New Orleans, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player scored 23 points on just 5-of-9 shooting — his fewest field goal attempts since 2019-20.
In the win over the Pelicans, Dort had a season-high 17 points while hitting four 3-pointers for the first time since Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
He’s 5 of 8 from beyond the arc since returning from missing five consecutive games due to injury. But Dort still prioritizes defense.
“That’s how I made my name in this league,” he said. “That’s how I made my name on this team as well. It’s not always the box score. I know I can impact the game in a lot of ways that people won’t really see.”
The Kings have dropped six consecutive games, starting with that Nov. 7 loss to Oklahoma City. The Thunder scored 60 points in the paint in that matchup, which isn’t an anomaly for the Kings. They allow 55.6 points per game in the paint, which ranks near the bottom of the league.
“We’ve got to make sure that we can contain the basketball, that’s first and foremost,” said Kings coach Doug Christie.
Plenty of those Oklahoma City paint points came courtesy of 7-footer Isaiah Hartenstein, who scored a career-high 33 points — the first time in his eight-year career he delivered more than 24 points.
Sacramento led that game after the first quarter, but were overwhelmed the rest of the way.
That wasn’t the case in Sunday’s 123-110 loss in San Antonio. The Kings were down 12 after the first period and couldn’t claw their way back.
“Coming out early, we just have to make sure that we’re playing with a sense of urgency, because once we get going, you find that urgency in your game and you find that good rhythm,” Christie said.
Wednesday’s game is the last of three between the teams this season. Oklahoma City won the first matchup, 107-101, on Oct. 28 at home.