Montreal on Dort’s mind
OKC star thinks more high school programs will help grow hoops in the city
Luguentz Dort likes the direction that basketball in Montreal is headed, but he would make just one tweak.
Dort is having an excellent season as the starting small forward for the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder. Along with Bennedict Mathurin of the Indiana Pacers and Chris Boucher of the Toronto Raptors, the 24-year-old Dort is part of a new generation of National Basketball Association talent coming out of Quebec’s largest city.
“Whatever’s going on right now it’s pretty good,” Dort said about Montreal’s current crop of quality players. “There’s so many high-talented players out of Montreal that get the chance to either play in the States or some big prep schools and have Division I offers and stuff.
“It’s been great, but it’s a process. I felt like we’re catching up to the people from Ontario and Toronto and all of them.”
His one suggestion to make Montreal’s basketball scene even stronger is to introduce more competitive programs for high school students.
“Probably if we can get some prep schools in Montreal that play against the top schools in the States, that would probably be good one day,” said Dort. “But that would be a process.”
Dort is averaging 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists for Oklahoma City (41-18) this season, his lowest numbers in those categories since his rookie season in 2019-20. But his 44.0 field goal percentage and 40.1 three-point percentage are career highs, as are his 0.7 blocks per game.
That has helped his scoring efficiency (1.302) and shooting efficiency (0.56) reach their highest levels in his five-season NBA career.
“I’m just trusting the process, just really reading the game, watching a lot of film,” said Dort. “I’m in my fifth season, I know what kind of shots I will get when I get in the game.
“And always, on the defensive side, I’m always doing my stuff. Just enjoying the process really.”
Dort is one of the players who committed to represent Canada for three years at the international level. He was part of the team that captured bronze at the FIBA World Cup in September, Canada’s first medal at the men’s international tournament.
He said that representing Canada helped him prepare for the NBA season. “Just the winning mentality, the win-or-go home mentality, was everything,” said Dort. “That and we got to play when a lot of people were off.
“That got us prepared for the season, which was great because we didn’t really have a break right after the World Cup. We came straight back here and then got back to work.”