Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be pulling rank to try to get one particular player back on the team next season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star Gilgeous-Alexander will remind management about how much he values having Luguentz Dort as a teammate in OKC, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported on Monday. MacMahon notes that Gilgeous-Alexander and Dort are tied for the longest-tenured Thunder players and that both play together on Team Canada during their summers as well.
Like Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort has been in Oklahoma City ever since 2019. He has served as a major cog for the Thunder ever since then, particularly with his physical defense that earned him All-Defensive First Team honors in 2025 and then helped OKC win the NBA title later that year as well.
But Dort’s stock has taken a hit after a 2026 postseason in which his offensive game was extremely lacking (just 5.5 points per game on woeful 37/31/50 shooting splits). That led to Dort consistently losing minutes to his fellow role player Alex Caruso as the Thunder ultimately fell in the Western Conference Finals to the San Antonio Spurs.
Now Dort is facing a $17.7 million club option for the 2026-27 season. With Thunder owning a $28.5 million club option on center Isaiah Hartenstein as well, they will likely have to make some very tough decisions in order to avoid the second apron of the luxury tax.
Between Dort’s inconsistent offense and his reputation for pulling dirty moves on the court, some OKC fans are seemingly ready to move on from him. But the endorsement of the reigning back-to-back NBA MVP Gilgeous-Alexander may take precedence above all for the Thunder this offseason.
