{"id":750788,"date":"2026-06-21T12:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/750788\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T12:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:15:11","slug":"lakers-linked-to-trade-for-luguentz-dort-as-luka-doncic-pairing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/750788\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Linked to Trade for Luguentz Dort as Luka Doncic Pairing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Luguentz\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> want to reinforce the wing position around superstar Luka Doncic<\/a> and they are taking a hard look at Luguentz Dort<\/a> of the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> as a candidate to accomplish that.<\/p>\n

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on Saturday, June 20 that sources around the NBA<\/a> expect the Thunder to pick up its team option on Dort\u2019s contract for the 2026-27 campaign and then shop him for draft capital in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cDort has a team option for $17.22 million for the upcoming season that several front [office] executives who spoke with HoopsHype are projecting the Thunder to exercise, then consider flipping Dort on the trade market,\u201d Scotto wrote<\/a>. \u201cShould such a scenario happen, Dort has been linked with the Lakers and several other teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake Fischer of the \u201cStein Line\u201d confirmed the link between the Lakers and Dort with a report of his own, also on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also told that the Lakers have called the Thunder about swingman Lu Dort\u2019s availability,\u201d Fischer wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lu Dort Has Perfect Game to Pair With Luka Doncic\"\"<\/p>\n

GettyLuguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

Dort is precisely the type of player who can fit alongside Doncic perfectly, particularly if the Lakers bring back Austin Reaves<\/a> on a new contract this offseason.<\/p>\n

Both Doncic and Reaves are at their best as on-ball creators, while Dort\u2019s offensive game can function effectively as primarily a spot-up shooter.<\/p>\n

His 3-point shooting dipped to 34.4 percent last season and was a problem for Oklahoma City in the team\u2019s seven-game loss to the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> in the Western Conference Finals. However, Dort is nearly 36 percent from deep on 5.6 attempts per game over the course of his seven-year career.<\/p>\n

He is also a tenacious on-ball, finishing fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting two years ago and winning first-team All-Defense honors that same campaign, which ended in a championship for the Thunder.<\/p>\n

Dort, 27, averaged 8.3 points<\/a>, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 26.8 minutes per night across 69 games played last year.<\/p>\n

Lu Dort Could Prove First Championship Building Block for Lakers Around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves\"Luka<\/p>\n

GettyLuka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

The Lakers are one of a handful of teams with the potential to eventually catch up to the Thunder and the Spurs<\/a> from a personnel standpoint given the presence of Doncic on the roster, presumably for the longterm, as one of the best five players in the league.<\/p>\n

However, Tim Bontemps of ESPN cautioned L.A.<\/a> last week about trying to do so all at once in a single offseason, as any mistakes in target acquisition (adding the wrong player) or contract agreements (paying even the right player too much) could stymie the ascent necessary to render the Lakers true contenders at the top of a juggernaut Western Conference.<\/p>\n

For instance, L.A. is also hunting a rim-running, rim-protecting center to pair with Doncic, which is something the superstar has expressly requested. That said, Dort is available now for the right price. So adding him, even if it means holding off for another year, or half of a year (trade deadline), on the big man Doncic wants might be the prudent decision.<\/p>\n

One thing is certain \u2014 Dort could be a longterm building block alongside Doncic and Reaves, which the Lakers clearly recognize based on their reported interest in acquiring him this summer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMax Dible<\/a> covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Los Angeles Lakers want to reinforce the wing position…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-750788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}