The Oklahoma City Thunder have some tough decisions to make in the next few weeks when it comes to team options for a trio of standout players who seem critical to them winning another NBA championship.
The Thunder, who were upset by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, have until June 29 to decide if they will pick up the $17.7 million team option for NBA All-Defensive Team forward Lu Dort and the $28.5 million team option for center Isaiah Hartenstein.
While smaller team options for Ajay Mitchell ($2.3 million) and Kenrich Williams ($7.2 million) also await, it’s Dort and Hartenstein who need to be dealt with 1st.
Spotrac’s Keith Smith predicts Dort could end up being the odd man out headed into the final season of the 5-year, $82.5 million contract he signed in 2022.
“The Thunder are in an interesting spot with Dort (and their other two team option decisions),” Smith wrote. “If Oklahoma City picks up all of the options, they’ll be way past the second apron. Considering Dort’s play has slipped a bit, he’s probably the most likely to have his option declined. Maybe he comes back for less money, but he might be out of the picture in Oklahoma City entirely.”
Teams Will Line Up to Pay Lu Dort
If this is truly c’est la vie for the Thunder and Dort, it’s not hard to imagine a robust free-agent market for the 6-foot-4, 220-pound defensive stopper.
While Dort has a respectable career scoring average of 11.6 points, his offense took a noticeable dip in 205-26, when he averaged under double digits (8.3 points) for the 1st time since his rookie season in 2019-20.
Because Dort just turned 27 years old, teams are going to look at that regression as coming not so much from some decline in Dort’s skill but because of the emergence of guard Ajay Mitchell, who saw his scoring average leap up almost 10 points from his rookie year to 13.6 points in the regular season and 15.1 points in the playoffs.
“It seems unlikely that the Thunder can continue with Dort next season,” The Athletic’s John Hollinger wrote on June 16. “They have multiple players at his position who are both better and younger, the team is set to be $40 million over the projected luxury tax line, and Dort is coming off an off-year in which he was notably ineffective in the Western Conference finals.”
What might hurt the most for the Thunder is to see 1 of their rivals go after him in free agency, with the Los Angeles Lakers seeming like the most painful (and likely) option out of that group.
Lu Dort’s Disastrous Playoff Run
Dort’s failure and his team’s failure to defend their NBA championship seem to have been the biggest factor in his presumed exit. It was a postseason that saw him probably forced into more minutes than he was accustomed to due to injuries to All-Star guard Jalen Williams and Mitchell.
“This was a brutal season for Lu Dort, who was essentially on a contract year,” Thunder superfan Devin Iwary wrote on his official X account. “His shooting fell off, which made him a black hole on offense. In the regular season, this was fine because the Thunder were good enough to dominate most teams, and his defense is good enough to make up for his deficiencies on offense. However, this was not the case in the playoffs.”
OKC Thunder ‘Most Likely’ to Part Ways With $82 Million Star