Grading OKC Thunder Trading Lu Dort to Atlanta Hawks

The Oklahoma City Thunder continued their offseason by trading defensive ace Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for three second-round picks, creating a 17.5 million traded player exception and an open roster spot. This put the Thunder $6.9 milion under the second apron with a roster spot to play with. The Thunder have saved $240 million off its luxury tax bill with their flurry of offseason moves. Now, the Thunder are only in line to pay $19.6 million in luxury tax. This marks the first season the Bricktown Ballers have been in the tax during this era of Thunder basketball. The last time Oklahoma City's ownership group had to cut a luxury tax check was in 2019-20.

Lu Dort, OKC Thunder, Atlanta Hawk — Jan 3, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) reacts to the official after a play against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Grading the OKC Thunder Trading Lu Dort to the Atlanta Hawks

The Oklahoma City Thunder now opens up a runway for young guards Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace to step up in place of this staple starter, who soaked up 26 minutes a night last year, but has played at least 28 minutes a night for the five seasons prior to that. This also gives last year's trade deadline addition, Jared McCain, even more run in Mark Daigneault's rotation and could even have a trickle-down impact on rookie Bennett Stirtz.

This will obviously change the Thunder's defensive outlook and perhaps even the regular-season depth of this team. However, Oklahoma City should still be –– and is –- viewed as one of, if not the biggest, title contender(s) in the NBA. Let's grade this trade from all sides.

OKC Thunder Grade: Incomplete.

If the Oklahoma City Thunder stay true to the impression General Manager Sam Presti is under, that these cost-saving moves are to reallocate to future teams and keep this roster intact moving forward, then this is part of a home run summer for the Bricktown Ballers. Making needed moves to keep around more talent and younger players. If this is a sign of things to come, and they are going to continue to slice payroll moving forward at the expense of the basketball team, then this summer –– and trade –– has a much different outlook. Time will tell which route the team goes. Assuming they go the logical route of keeping the Thunder intact, this is a trade that grades out to an A to move on from yet another big contract that doesn't harm you on the court this year and in tern allows you to pay future players by saving the money now all white having little-to-no leverage and still not using assets to shed salary or taking any bad contract back in return. That is a hard needle to thread. If it goes down the wrong path, then all they accomplished was getting worse as a team and saving money. In which case, the grade is an F.

Atlanta Hawks Grade: B+.

The Atlanta Hawks simply added an All-Defensive level talent and took a flyer on an expiring contract that is banking on a 27 year old reverting back to his previous two seasons where he was a 40% 3 point shooter as opposed to last year's complete season shooting slump. A fair bet, on top of adding him to a team that now enjoys Nickiel Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels and Dort as elite defensive options on the outside. They could win games in the mud with Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson and rookie Kingston Flemings shouldering the load offensively. The only cost was the dollars and cents to bring Dort on board. While they can take the approach of optionality both on the court and off of it when determining Dort's future and how to flush out this Atlanta roster long-term.

Lu Dort Grade: A+.

Had the Oklahoma City Thunder kept Dort around this season, he was staring down the barrel of a campaign littered with trade rumors until the deadline came and went. A season that would force the Thunder to reduce his role and change his workload in a contract year with a franchise that has no way to ink him to the long-term, highly paid pact he wants next summer. Now in Atlanta, he doesn't have to worry about any role reduction, can help Atlanta –– flanked by Alexander-Walker and Daniels –– be an upper-end defense and perhaps enjoy a bounce back from beyond the arc to earn a big payout on his next contract. A chance that OKC just couldn't justify providing him and would have likely made for a messy season of balancing individual needs and team desires that wouldn't be exactly fair to discount on either side. Now that isn't a concern, even if his Hawks are not soaring into title contention, even after an interesting offseason.

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