OKC Thunder Head Coach Weighs in on Lu Dort’s Defensive Player of the Year Snub

Oklahoma City wrapped up its opening game of the 2024-25 season in dramatic blowout fashion, downing the Grizzlies 131-80. It was the largest Game 1 victory in the history of the NBA playoffs.

On the same day that Oklahoma City notched a historic playoff win, the finalists for major NBA awards came out, too. It’s no surprise that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a finalist for the NBA’s MVP award — he’s the heavy, odds-on favorite. But there were also a few noticeable omissions from the award finalists. The most notable one, of course, being Lu Dort — Oklahoma City’s dynamic defensive stopper. Many have publicly endorsed him to win the Defensive Player of the Year award, but shockingly, he wasn’t even one of the three finalists listed.

For Dort, the lack of recognition is nothing new. Despite being one of the best perimeter defenders in the league over the last few years, he has never even made an All-Defense quad. While that’ll almost certainly change this season, the omission from the main award is still disappointing.

Nearly every Thunder player made available at Monday’s media viewing spoke out on Dort’s sub, but Mark Daigneault’s quotes stood tall. He’s not one to advocate or sway the media, but he, of course, certainly believes Dort is worthy of such an honor.

“The only thing I’ll say about that, is I think the way that his teammates respond to that — both the way they handled the build up to it, how hard they were pulling for him, and then the response they had to it, which was disappointment for him — I think speaks volumes,” Daigneault said. “Not only to his impact as a defender, but more importantly to his gravity and impact inside the locker room.

Mark Daigneault on Lu Dort not being a DPOY finalist: pic.twitter.com/s0485erU1L
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) April 21, 2025

“I just think it shows the amount of respect that he has built over a long period of time. And ultimately, when all is said and done and the awards are handed out and all that stuff, at the end of the day it comes down to the respect that you have from the people you’re around the most. He’s got the utmost respect of his teammates.”

Dort spent plenty of time on Ja Morant during Game 1 action, where Morant was held to 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting. He regularly sticks with the opposing team’s star player and takes them out of the game almost entirely.

He has established himself as a feared defender in the league, and plenty of star guards have listed him as the toughest matchup. One of these days, Dort’s defensive production will be too hard to ignore — he is destined to win the big award at some point. For this season, though, an All-Defense team will have to do. He’ll be able to show voters that he was snubbed on the biggest stage in the playoffs.

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