OKC Thunder's Lu Dort Has Seen Slumps Before, but This One is Slightly Different

Early on in Lu Dort's career, he was deemed as one of the most shoddy shooters on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He was inconsistent, mechanics were off, confidence was lacking and couldn't make him when he was open. He couldn't break 30% shooting from distance in his rookie season, and only reached 34% once after four years in the league—which isn't terrible in itself, but he was visibly inconsistent.

One game he's consistent making massive threes, the other he's dealing with a metal lid on the basket. He's streaky, that's how he's always been. Offense has never been his calling card—defense, of course, has.

But last season and the year prior, he established a solid system. Taking sound shots, making them in timely situations—Dort was taking the least amount of threes in both of those seasons since his rookie year, and it was boding well for the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Canadian guard.

But even cracking 39% and 41% shooting from 3-point distance across both of those seasons saw him with shooting slumps. Almost as if it's inevitable, Dort would find himself in several slumps. A slump is normal, but Dort's just seem to be more noticeable.

And that's been the case thus far this season. He hasn't been able to find his rhythm on the offensive end whatsoever, and has dropped off a bit on the defensive end as well statistically.

Of players who have competed in at least 15 games or more this season, the Thunder has all five players rounding out the top five in the entire NBA in defensive rating. Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell, Jaylin Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace, in that order.

Following them, you have Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe still in the top 10 in the league in defensive rating, followed by Isaiah Hartenstein and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. And then you have Dort, who has typically been proclaimed as the Thunder's most prominent defender. Granted, Dort had dealt with some injury woes this season, playing in just 18 games thus far.

He's still immensely valuable—but with guys like Mitchell and Wallace coming on to the scene who have provided serious value on both ends of the floor, it makes his slump a bit different than years prior where Oklahoma City did not possess this amount of depth.

Dort's defense is still as intense as any on this team. His offensive play is the liability—but he's proven he's capable of coming through in clutch moments and making big-time plays on that end of the floor. Some fans are quick to write him off with the early success of Mitchell and Wallace.

There's some validity to that as we've seen to this point this season, and Dort will have to speak to it.