It was a busy few days for NBA champion Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The native son of Montreal Nord brought the Larry O’Brien championship trophy home to Montreal for a variety of appearances. Among those was a trip to Montreal’s city hall to sign the Golden Book on Wednesday and an appearance at Percival Molson Stadium for the Winnipeg, Alouettes game Thursday evening.

Of all the appearances, none was more meaningful to the OKC Thunder guard than last Thursday’s special event in his home community of Montreal Nord. Dort began that day by taking time to reminisce. The defensive and three-point specialist visited his childhood home and the outdoor court where he sharpened his skills. Then it was celebration mode starting with a parade along Charleroi. The throng of fans lining the Montreal Nord street reacted each time Dort raised the O’Brien trophy high. The parade worked its way along Charleroi to Parc Pilon where some 5,000 of Dort’s extended family waited for his arrival. “Any success I have, I want to share with my people,” Luguentz Dort said. “There’s not a lot of us that get to make it to the to the big stage. As soon as we won, I was like, yeah, I got to come back home with it, especially where I grew up. I had a long day. I went to the park I used to play in then I was in front of my house that I grew up in. Now I’m here with even more kids and more and more action.”

The crowd was awash with Dort jerseys and signs for Lu the Champ and Lu the Beast. As the parade arrived at its final destination chants of “Lu,Lu,Lu” grew thunderous for the Thunder star as Dort worked his way through the crowd to the stage. After taking it all in, Dort reflected on how he was feeling. “I love it,” Dort said. “I just see how much they really support me. It’s hard to make it to the NBA from this neighborhood. And honestly, the fact that I did it, and then I’m here right now in front of them, there’s a belief for them and I’m really happy to be here enjoying some good times with them.”

Dort has given back to his community through his Maizon Dort Foundation. One project helped to revamp the courts at Parc Saint-Laurent last summer. The 26-year-old also holds a two-day camp for many of Quebec’s top youth players where Dort mentors the players along their path. “It’s hard to make it to the NBA from this neighbourhood,” he said. “The fact that I did it and that I’m here right now in front of them, it’s a belief for them. At a young age, coming from here, I didn’t have a specific guy to look at, to be like ‘I want to be like him.’ To be in this position in the kids’ eyes today, it’s huge. It shows how the work really is paying off, and how much I carry this city and this neighborhood (with me).”

Dort helped lead the Thunder to the NBA title in June with a seven-game series win over the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers featured fellow Montreal Nord native Bennedict Mathurin, who grew up several houses away from Dort’s. This is the second time the Larry O’Brien Trophy has appeared in Montreal Nord. The first was by Chris Boucher when the Toronto Raptors won in 2019

Dort now joins a very exclusive roster of Quebec athletes who are NBA champions. That number is now four as Dort is added to the list of Beaconsfield’s Bill Wennington (Chicago Bulls, 1996 to 1998), Montreal’s Joel Anthony (Miami Heat, 2012 and 2013) and Boucher. n