Of all the roster moves made in June and July when the NBA lifted its transaction moratorium, none may be bigger over the long term than the Thunder‘s revamped deal with swingman Luguentz Dort. A two-way player for most of the season, Dort was promoted to Oklahoma City’s 15-man roster in June, signing a four-year contract worth $5.4MM that will keep him under team control at the minimum through 2023.
Dort enjoyed the best game of his career on Wednesday vs. Houston, pouring in 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting (6-of-12 on threes) and locking up James Harden on defense, holding the former MVP to a series-low 17 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
Harden ultimately got the best of Dort in Game 7’s final minute, blocking a three-point shot that would given the Thunder the lead. Despite a disappointing first-round exit though, Dort projects to be part of Oklahoma City’s core for years to come.
Here’s more on the Thunder in the wake of the end of their season:
- Chris Paul takes exception to describing his performance in 2019/20 as a “rejuvenation” or “resurgence,” since it suggests his play had fallen off in previous years, writes Royce Young of ESPN. Whatever you want to call it though, Paul’s play this season helped reshape the road map for the Thunder’s future, as Young explains — a full-scale rebuild no longer seems like the most obvious path for the franchise.
- Thunder general manager Sam Presti has made it clear he’d like to have Billy Donovan continue coaching the club, but Donovan will have to decide whether he wants to remain in Oklahoma City, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who suggests that Donovan may want to hear the team’s plans for the next few years before making a new commitment. Donovan’s five-year contract with OKC expires this year.
- In an Insider-only article for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks examines the Thunder’s looming offseason decisions, including whether or not to retain free agent Danilo Gallinari, whether to explore extensions with Dennis Schroder and/or Steven Adams, and what to do with their stash of future draft picks.
Contracts compare
Westbrook $228 million
Lu Dort $5 million for 4 years
No comparison. One is an MVP, the other is not.
One plays above his contract, one doesn’t. I agree on a talent level, it’s not close. But talent isn’t everything and Dort has shown as a rookie he can contribute.
Hmm, one has played 36 games and averaged under 7 points a game, the other has played 860 games averaging over 23 points a game. I wonder why they have such different contracts?
How about this one…which player you taking going forward?
That’s a loaded question. You can’t even make that choice in the real world. In order to keep Russell Westbrook from walking away for nothing, you had to sign him to a max deal two years ago. So you’re stuck with that contract and this isn’t even a legitimate real world question.
The other side of it is how you going to find an undrafted rookie like Dort to come in & a two-way contract which is a couple hundred thousand dollars or something.
And to answer your question, I had a game 7 right now I would choose Russell Westbrook over Dort. Or even a seven-game series in the playoffs I choose Westbrook right now. Do I want that contract going forward the next three years, heck no. But I’ll take Westbrook over the rookie right now for this next playoff series against the Lakers.
You could ask that same question about any guy with a huge contract vs a promising young guy. Obviously you take Westbrook as a player, obviously, you take Dort if you want salary flexibility.
Neither has won a title so I will take the savings instead of the constant sulking.
One is getting paid more.
Oh yes. Let’s compare a player with only a hand full of good games against the all-time triple double leader. That’s totally apples to apples. Dort has never even put up a double double. He averages less than one assist per game as a guard and is hit and miss on rebounding. Dort is only capable of one thing: catch and shoot. Which he is excellent at but had a long long long way to go before he could contend with Russel. Heck Dort has only played 10 games period. So we have no clue how he’ll perform during the grind of a entire season.
OKC have 15 first round picks next 6 years
Trade each young player and attach 2 Firsts each
Lu Dort did great in the bubble but it’s to early to say he is a steal . would like to see him succeed but we have to see how he handles a whole season with travel and hard grinding schedule. Would be interesting to see what okc do this offseason will they rebuild or trade their huge chest of assets to compete? If they trade Chris Paul I will think NYK, Toronto, phili, Suns , bucks should target him.
They need to extend Adams. To at least show good faith to the fan base. However, he may not want to stay. Gallo and Schroeder are good players but I’d let them go. The future of the team lies with future talent, not with albatross contracts for good, not great players.
Weren’t you just commenting on someone playing above his contract? You want to extend Steve Adams, who is making 27 million a year? If he were a free agent in todays market he would be lucky to get 10.
Meh… Adams would get more than 10/year! Are you kidding? A lot of bad, seriously bad players make more than that! He ain’t that great neither, but he is decent & puts a lot of effort, unlike many guys making more than 10!
Boy do I hate how all fans think centers are useless. It is a very important position & if you have an all-time talent in there, that is the difference maker. All-star guards come at a dozen a dime, not much value there if you ask me!
I am not saying all centers are useless. I am talking about how salaries are going to drop. I never said anything about centers. Adams would be lucky to get 10 next year.
You’ll see how it goes.
Kanter is on a $5M per year deal, JV in Memphis is on a $15M per year deal…..Adams will easily get $10M
You’re not aware of the salary situation in the NBA currently?
It’s hard to guess at salaries for centers anymore.
I found Adams disappointing vs Houston. He’s not agile and did not make use of his size enough. OKC can wait to see what they get next year; same for Shroder at $15.5 this year. Adams $26mil at 27yo
Gallinari, I must never see him at the right time.
I hope Presti confounds timeline fans and goes by the cut of the jib.
You didn’t actually make a point here. You say he’ll make less after starting with people outplaying their contracts. Ok. All I said is they need to re-evaluate-sign him because they’ve never held on to a single one of their guys and it’d behoove them to re-sign a guy who won’t cost a lot but means a lot to the franchise and fan base. Gallo and Schroeder don’t have those ties and holding them makes less sense as they are planning on building with all of their picks.
My point is that Adams isn’t worth even close to 27 million and extending him would be ridiculous.
Why would extending him be ridiculous is if as you claim he wouldn’t be making 27? He’d make less and extending him makes tons of sense.
I’m not sure about Billy Donovan. I told my friends let’s see what kind of Coach he is and what kind of plays he draws up for this last minute. Couldn’t get the ball to gilgeous Alexander to the last shot? You’ve got to set a double screen, triple screen.., something !!
A pass to Steven Adams at the three-point line that bounces off his hands and the clock expires is not something that should have EVER happened. You’ve got to drill it in each guy’s head to get the ball to Chris Paul secondarily cuz he’s 6-1 and can’t shoot over a 6-7 guy, or gilgeous-alexander who should be able to get a shot up at his size with one and a half seconds left. I say Donovan has to go.
The other side of the coin is you could trade Chris Paul, and now you go super young team and perhaps Donovan is the one to guide college-age guys, young men for a couple of years. All told, OKC is in a good spot right now with youth and future assets.
Dort has been my favorite player to watch since the NBA started back up. It’s great he is getting some love.
Adams is not getting 10 mill in today’s market. Howard is better than Adams he’s 3 mill. I wouldn’t pay more than mid level money. That’s cause he’s 27. I was never a Donovan fan. IMO OKC should go full rebuild. Trade for young players, picks. Can’t believe they pick 25th this yr. I would try and move up to teens. They can find a nice player there. Like a Maledon their future PG.
SGA is their future PG! Are you planning in getting rid of him as well?
Too bad he played SG all year. Just go on the baseball board dude. Whining is not a point of view. Look up the word full rebuild. With all the picks Thunder have. They should be focused on rebuilding. Adams and Chris ain’t taking them anywhere.
El Don…try and think this through…SGA makes 4 million next year, 5.5 million the year after, then 7.5 in 22-23…So no, you don’t get rid of him.
Steve Adams makes 27 million next year, then he is a free agent.
So..and take your time thinking this through. OKC should keep SGA and not worry about letting Adams walk Get it?
Curtis…he’s not talking about SGA leaving, he’s talking about how KnickerbockerAl is talking about Maledon as the future PG despite having him on the roster already.
I get it Kyle, I am just playing.
He spent this year playing the 2….so how does that change potentially being the 1 in the future? You literally said that paul and Adams arent taking them anywhere. Maybe the guy who went 19/5/3 while not being a primary facilitator would be that. Along with showing he’s overmatched on D playing the 2. SGA is clearly the guy who will be the PG of the future.
I mean, maybe the Thunder could use three point guards on the floor at once? Like they did this year?
Full rebuild….young players….have you looked at their contracts for next season?
Dort and Bazley are rookies, diallo, Burton and SGA in year two, Ferguson just finished year 3. Schroder, Paul and Adams are the only veteran players they have signed and 2 of them are up after next year. How much younger are you expecting them to get?
Im a big Adams fan but boy did he look soft that series-Okc never put him in good positions and hes No longer the fierce warrior down low- Id trade him next year at pre-season or at the deadline for a pick and another expiring
Was extremely let down with Danillo too – That team needed offence and it seems he ran away from what he gets paid for. Id pass this off season
Theres probably a team with enough bad money and aspiration to take Pauls next 2 years- Id take the picks and young pieces back and go full re-build if I was Okc
Agree, I don’t even know how they kept it close vs Houston, as players did not play well individually.