Thunder End of The Year Report Card: Lu Dort

SI Thunder continues its end of season report card series, this time give out grades for Oklahoma City's defensive stopper Luguentz Dort.

Nick Crain's Grade: A-

Lu Dort was one of the biggest surprises of the season. While we all knew he had the ability to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA in his sophomore season, nobody predicted his offensive leap.

 In his rookie season, he averaged 6.8 points per game while shooting 29.7 percent from deep. In year two, he averaged 14.0 points per contest while converting on 34.3 percent of his threes. Additionally, he looked much more comfortable and confident in his increased role, taking more than two times the amount of triples year over year.

 As a passer, while he still has a lot of work to do, Dort doubled his assist numbers, dishing out 1.7 per contest in the 2020-21 season. After going undrafted, Dort continues to be the most surprising performer in OKC. At this point, why do we bother putting a ceiling on his game at all?

All things considered, Dort might be the best bang for your buck player in the NBA on his team-friendly deal.

Derek Parker's Grade: B+

Lu Dort's second season was all you could ask for.

The guard continued to set the tone as a defensive stopper, providing excellent on and off ball coverage, and elevated his offensive game to become a legitimate deep threat.

Dort averaged 14.0 points per game and converting 34.3 percent of his 3-point attempts. Remarkably, he shot a much higher clip from beyond the arc on nearly triple the attempts.

Dort hasn't quite reached star status just yet, though his reputation might say otherwise. But he is still freshly 22-years-old.

Should the brazen Canadian see a jump in year-three, he'll be a star in this league soon enough.