Just one night after scoring his first NBA bucket, Oklahoma City Thunder two-way rookie Luguentz Dort followed up that performance by recording nine points in a 104-90 win over the Utah Jazz.
The undrafted forward started off his rookie campaign with the OKC Blue in the G League but has been with the Thunder for the past three games as he made his NBA debut on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Dort finished by shooting 3-of-6 from the field in 29 minutes off of the bench on Monday while the Canadian likely made his best impact on the defensive end of the floor. He was often tasked with guarding Donovan Mitchell as he was matched up with the third-year guard for five minutes of game time.
While completely shutting down Mitchell is a task in itself, Dort held Mitchell to eight points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field as his primary defender, per NBA stats. In a small sample size, Dort has defended well thus far, even holding Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum to a combined 0-of-3 shooting on Sunday. He also had a game-saving steal against Minnesota.
Dort has been known to play physical and can be hard to stop when he gets moving downhill. His energy off of the bench has been a bright spot as he appears to have taken over the role of second-year forward Deonte Burton after he was sent down to the Blue following an altercation with a teammate.
The Thunder have been rumored to be interested in making several trades ahead of the deadline in February, which could lead to an increased youth movement later this season and Dort could be a candidate to see a bigger role as a result.
OKC returns to action Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings.
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