Watch the Games Because Lu Dort is the Defensive Star You’ve Been Ignoring and He’s Tired of Being Overlooked

OKLAHOMA CITY—Lu Dort isn’t in it for the spotlight—he’s in it for the stop. He battles through countless screens all night, torments elite scorers game to game, and takes defense personally. But for someone as locked in as Lu, being passed over season after season for any post season defensive awards can start to wear on you.

“I think they need to watch our games.”

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That was Lu’s message to voters who haven’t given him his due to—at the very least—be on one of those NBA All Defensive teams and it’s starting to sting. Understandably so.

“I just felt like I needed to get the recognition,” Dort tells me. “I was doing it. I was doing it so much and I’m doing a good job at the same time. It’s was really that, honestly. That’s what it was you know?”

“You play your heart out every night, especially on that side of the floor, and I really take a lot of pride in it” Dort continued. I mean, just the fact that I was getting a little disrespected on that side a little bit. The fact that I was doing it every night…that was kind of pissing me off. I’m not doing this to get recognized. I’m doing this for my teammates. But you know, sometimes…it’s good to be seen.”

Despite being one of the NBA’s premier on-ball defenders, Dort has often flown under the radar by the voters for most of his career. And it’s because what he does doesn’t jump out at you on the box score. The impact goes beyond that. He’s never amongst the league leaders in in steals or blocks. He doesn’t make nightly highlights reels with chase down blocks or ridiculous steals. You simply can’t truly quantify what he does: making life miserable for the other team’s best player, every single night. That’s exactly why he’s often left out of conversations about All-Defensive honors. But numbers can’t tell the whole story when your job is locking down the league’s best scorers.

That’s why they need to watch the games.

“It’s hard to get steals and blocks when you guard the best best on the other team, ” Dort explains. They’re not going to lose the ball. I’m not going to steal it from them. They’re great players for a reason.”

If Lu was doing what he was doing every single night plus racking up nice defensive stats it would be a no brainer for Defensive Player of the Year and All Defensive year to year. But both just can’t happen for wing defenders. It’s usually one or the other.

“It’s not that easy for me,” Dort says. the fact that I can guard them…I mean, if people would watch the games, see how I go overs screens, go under screens, see how I stay in front of my man, how I’m physical, how I close out. Theres so much stuff I can say about my defense.”

Just look at this season alone. Dort averages a little over 1 steal and half a block per game. Those numbers would be good enough for 5th and 8th on his own team and nowhere near the top in the NBA rankings. However, he holds the league’s top scores to well below their season averages for points and shooting percentages which is something that isn’t really known by the masses.

The overwhelming majority wouldn’t know this though. That’s why Dort has had a simple message since the end of last season: “They need to watch the games.”

It’s been harder to ignore him this season though. With more national TV games this season than they have had in quite some time, the Thunder as a whole are no longer flying under the radar. They’re the best team in the league, backed by, by far, the league’s best defense. And Dort isn’t alone. Oklahoma City possibly has the most defensive depth a team has ever seen. For some, that hurts Dort’s case for post season awards.

With some critics arguing Dort has it a little easier on the defensive end with players like Alex Caruso, Chet Holmgren Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, and even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander around him—but Dort flips that narrative on its head.

“Well sh*t,” Dort laughs. “If that’s the case, then one of us. If it’s not me, then it should go to one of us. We have some of the best defensive numbers in NBA history. If people are saying that then this award should go to one of us,” he said.

“Even if it’s not me, it [Defensive Player of the Year] should go to Caso [Cason Wallace] or Dub [Jalen Williams] or Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander]. If it comes to me, I’ll gladly take it on behalf of the team because we are one of the best teams in NBA history. But like I said, if that’s the case, it should go to one of us.”

Even in a spot where Dort could have talked more about his defensive prowess and made his case a little more, he gave credit to his teammates. He’s knows that’s where they hang their head every night when they step on the floor and knows he isn’t alone in sporting one of the best defenses the NBA has ever seen.

Still, it’s clear Dort wants his due—not for the fame, but because he’s earned it the hard way. And if it wasn’t obvious, he doesn’t just want to stop at being an All Defensive spot—he wants the big award too. Defensive Player of the Year.

An award that typically goes to big men every year. Dort knows it’t tough for him because of the position he plays but he makes a case for not just himself but other wing defenders in the league.

“The game has been evolving,” Dort says. “The game has been changing. There’s so much that happens on the perimeter. Most bigs, the majority of the time that they get it, it’s because they get blocks at the rim, which is good. But the only skills they really need is to be tall and good at jumping and blocking shots.”

“Honestly, on the perimeter, you have to be able to go through screens, read the defender, knowing when the defender is tired, and when you pick want to pick him up full court. Being a low man and closing out on one of the great three point shooters and still able to win the closeout and stay in front of them,” Dort continued. “There’s so much sh*t I can say about perimeter defenders. They get their head cut off. I get my head cut off every time someone sets a screen because they want to get me off their best player.”

“The game has just changed now to the fact that theres more than just blocking shots on that end. It just needs to go to the best defender.”

There’s a quiet pride in his voice when he talks about the grind of perimeter defense. Unwavering confidence. Hours of film and knowing every defender’s tendencies—no matter how elite the guy is on the other side of him—is a battle he fully expects to win. That’s how he made his mark in the NBA and he doesn’t take any moment for granted because he might not have been in this position had he not been such a phenomenal defender. Going un-drafted, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Dort.

And Dort knows exactly what it would mean to finally be recognized: he’d become just the eighth un-drafted player in NBA history to win a postseason defensive award.

“My main goal was to figure out a way to find some playing time and that end of the floor helped me get on the court,” Dort says. 

He would join Alex Caruso, Robert Covington, Raja Bell, Bruce Bowen, Ben Wallace, John Starks, and Slick Watts as the only un-drafted guys in history to receive any kind of post season defensive award. An award that only ten people a year receive which speaks to how tough it is for anyone—let alone an un-drafted guy—to get recognized.

“That end of the floor helped me get recognized. It helped me change my life. It says that if your name doesn’t get called at the draft there’s still hope. It’s still a starting point for all players. You just have to find a way to stay on the court and when you figure it out you stay in it.”

Now, Lu Dort is doing more than just staying on the floor. He’s defining what it means to be a lockdown defender in today’s NBA—and making it impossible to ignore. Defense isn’t just a role for Dort. It’s his identity. Now, he making sure the best of the basketball world knows it too. He just wants his due.

“A lot of guys have goals. They have a big reason why they’re on the court and in this league. I just feel like I need to get the recognition.”

As Dort simply put it, watch the games.

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