Lu Dort Is A Better Shooter Than Trae Young
Kent Smith. Getty Images.I love Lu Dort. Granted, if you played for Arizona State in college chances are I am going to blindly love you regardless, but I've been driving the Lu Dort bandwagon for years.
Advertisement
I'm wrong a lot when it comes to NBA draft prospects. Sometimes it's impressive how wrong I can be. But I knew deep in my bones that Lu Dort was going to be a good NBA player. The combination of his size, his intensity, I was always willing to look past his broken shot in college because he kept giving me Marcus Smart 2.0 vibes.
Fast forward to the bubble where he basically was the only living human who showed he could somewhat guard James Harden defensively.
Then the Thunder signed him to a multi year deal this offseason and he's now a huge part of their core as the starting two guard playing around 28 minutes a night. He was once again great last night in a tough loss to the Nuggets
In my opinion, Dort is currently playing his way into the MIP conversation. His 13/3.9 on 48/43% with 2.2 3PM are basically double what he did in his rookie season, and here's where it gets weird. Last season, Dort was a 29% three point shooter on 3.3 attempts. How insane has his start to the season been?
In his 13 games, Dort has 31 3PM, which is good for 29th in the NBA. Look at some of the names he's currently ahead of
Jamal Murray - 29
Jaylen Brown - 29
Gordon Hayward - 27
Brandon Ingram - 26
Luka Doncic - 25
Bradley Beal - 24
Trae Young - 20
There is not a single person on the planet that saw this coming. If you told someone that Lu Dort would have better shooting production than Trae Young, who would believe you? I'm not even sure Thunder fans would. Pick any name in that group and it's the same thing. You're looking at a list of #1 or #2 options on offense. Guys that are All Star quality players. Franchise guys. I'm not even trying to tell you this is sustainable and that Dort is going to finish with better shooting production than these guys, but there's no denying that what he's done in his first 13 games is certainly eye-opening. He takes around 5.5 3PA a night this season so it's not like his numbers look good because of low volume either.
Advertisement
He's the only player 22 or younger since KD or Westbrook to ever have a 20/5/5 game for the Thunder. You could make the case that when you combine his elite on ball defense with this improved three point shooting and his $1.5M salary that he's the best dollar for dollar value in the entire NBA. The Thunder have him under contract for the next two years at $1.7M and $1.9M. Incredible value for Sam Presti and the rebuilding Thunder. Those are the types of hits you need to make when you go through a rebuilding process.
This is why the NBA season is so fun. Guys come out of nowhere every single season. I think most OKC fans had high hopes for Dort after what he showed in the bubble, but he's taking it to a level nobody could have seen coming.
Love me some Lu Dort.