The Thunder are declining the $1,930,681 team option on Luguentz Dort, making him a restricted free agent, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).
A report last week indicated that Oklahoma City would pick up the option, with GM Sam Presti telling Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman that was the likely outcome.
“Obviously it’s our plan to exercise that pending anything different,” Presti said.
Evidently Presti has reevaluated that decision, which isn’t very surprising considering Dort would have drawn considerable interest on the open market as an unrestricted free agent in 2023. Declining the option and making him restricted gives the Thunder the ability to match any offer sheet he receives in a free agent market where not many teams have cap space.
The barrel-chested Dort, who turned 23 in April, has showed continuous improvement after going undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019. He averaged 17.2 PPG and 4.2 RPG on .404/.332/.843 shooting in 51 games (32.6 MPG) last season while playing solid, switchable defense.
Given his rate of improvement and the NBA’s ever-growing need for wings who can contribute on both ends of the court, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Dort sign a contract in the range of $15-20MM annually. Dort is ranked No. 9 on our list of top 50 free agents.
please AK and Eversley!!! Bring him to Chicago! Definitely would upgrade their perimeter defense.
Don’t think bulls need more wings which can’t shoot threes efficiently. Plus you guys have loads of good defenders.
If anything you guys need shooters and depth in the front court
Anyone is better than Troy Brown. Honestly.
I guess
New contract in place to save costs
What difference does it make? They aren’t trying to compete anyway.
Boston on line 1
Exercising the option never made any sense. Next year is year 4, so he’d be an UFA after next season. Even if he came back, it would be more expensive. Who cares about the increment in this year’s numbers, as the team is likely going to be below the cap and maybe even (like last year) below the minimum.
Dort has good trade value after he signs 4 year $28 million contract
Dort to Celtics for players and a future First
Shrewd move by OKC.
They are looking to lock him up by matching any offer he gets. OKC doesn’t want to run into the same issue the Mavs are running into with Brunson. This way they are able to keep him without fear of losing him for nothing
I love Dort for the Jazz! Although, those shooting numbers aren’t the greatest. They would definitely need to help him with that. Hard to say if the Jazz would be interested before seeing what trades they’re able to do. Plus, they signed some interesting prospects for the Summer League. Tough call!
I foresee this happening a lot for the Thunder. They bring in so many draft picks every year now. Hard to see how they can keep them all without trades. At some point they’ll have to start bringing in veterans if they ever want to compete again. Otherwise, they’ll just be stuck at the bottom of the standings year after year.