Unique Bond Between Bennedict Mathurin and Dort Could Prove Important on Draft Night
Bennedict Mathurin isn’t from Oklahoma City and didn’t play college basketball in Oklahoma City. But he does have a bond to Oklahoma City.
Mathurin is from Montreal, Canada, more specifically Montreal-Nord, and the same goes for Thunder guard Lu Dort. The two, while having a slight age difference, Dort is 23 and Mathurin is 19, still have a relationship.
Both Dort and Mathurin played through the same AAU program, Brookwood Elite, as Dort on top of growing up in the same area of Montreal. The duo's paths, while different in schools are similar in direction after their childhoods in Canada.
Dort would finish his high school career in Jacksonville, Florida before heading to Arizona State for his college years. Mathurin would take a different path, going to Mexico City to round out his high school career before heading to Arizona for his college career.
While Dort went undrafted after college, a successful sophomore season has propelled Mathurin into a projected lottery selection. With that territory comes the chance the two are united on the same team, this time getting to play together.
The Thunder have two lottery selections, the No. 2 pick and the No. 12 pick, while Mathurin is projected to be picked between the two, the chances aren’t zero the pair will be teammates come next season. The Thunder could end up with Mathurin and continue to fill in guard depth and improve the team's 3-point shooting as he shot 38.3% from beyond the arc at Arizona.
Mathurin exploded in his sophomore season for the Wildcats scoring 17.7 points and notching 5.6 rebounds per game.
While the Thunder’s starting guards are set with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort, and Josh Giddey, Mathurin would provide solid depth and flexibility to the lineup that the Thunder could use.
The preexisting relationship with Dort only helps Mathurin with the Thunder as it is always easier to adjust to a team with relationships already built up. However, the final destination for Mathurin in the draft still waits until June 23.
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