Lu Dort Slumping at Crucial Time in Thunder Season

With just one game remaining and a chance to secure a place in the play-in game Oklahoma City needs all of their key players playing their best basketball of the season, however Lu Dort has struggled, especially offensively, as of late.

Dort has had his struggles offensively at times throughout the season, but has been able to limit the stretches and find his game again. The Thunder don’t rely on him to carry the offense, but instead Dort is heavily utilized on the defensive end.

However, as one of the key cornerstones of the roster Dort’s offense is still needed as the season comes to an end with must win scenarios. In the Thunder’s win on Thursday over the Jazz Dort shot a mere 1-for-7 from the field and scored just seven points on the night. That line just adds to his recent stretch of struggles.

In three games this month, Dort is shooting just 30.6% from the field on 12 shots per game. Dort played just 19 minutes in the game, after coming into the game with both struggles and on the injury report with a shoulder injury.

OKC has relied on their offense to help win games with high scoring games becoming a common occurrence for the young team, but with Dort’s up-and-down season and some other players having occasional shortcomings in their games, which is common for young players, the Thunder have skidded to the finish line.

Oklahoma City had lost three in a row before its Thursday night victory in Utah. A big factor in Dort’s struggles have come when OKC has played on the road. The whole team has failed to find any momentum in away games this season, but Dort’s splits indicate he has more struggles than others. His field goal percentage plummets from 43% all the way to 34.1% on the road. In part his scoring drops four points on average from 15.7 to 11.7. Dort's season shooting average is nearly the worst of his career at 38.8% overall, only matched by a 38.7% season in 2020-21. His 13.7 points per game is his second worst total of his career, with only his rookie season seeing a lower output.

The Thunder are a win, or a Mavericks loss, away from clinching a play-in berth, and if it comes down to Sunday’s game against Memphis, OKC will need to be firing on all cylinders and that includes Dort who seems due for a big game.

Want to join the discussion? Like SI Thunder on and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.

Add us as a preferred source on Google