Long gone are the days when Lu Dort needed his teammates to vouch for him. Now, after being a key starter in a championship run, everybody who follows basketball knows who he is and his journey from an undrafted rookie to an All-Defense Team member.
After a short three-month offseason, Dort is right back to it. Only a few weeks remain until the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their championship defense. They hope to join a rare club of teams that went back-to-back and pencil their spot in NBA history.
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The first step of that six-plus-month process happened on Monday. The Thunder hosted their 2025-26 Media Day. Of course, the main topic was about their championship and what they anticipate the upcoming season to look like as the best team.
Dort talked about how his life has changed since he added a ring. He’s only seen the offseason impact. In-season, expect the Thunder to be the team the rest of the league circles in their matchups against as a chance to see how they measure up against the top team.
“I would say recognition, honestly, from our fans here and from anywhere in the world, honestly, where I’ve been. A lot of people are fans of basketball, and they recognize me from being on the team and making this championship run That was big,” Dort said. “But I would say also just the confidence of achieving something like that. It’s really big. Just walking around, knowing that it was a great win that we had.”
Like Dort said, winning an NBA championship sends you to the highest of highs. It’s what everybody dreams of doing since they first picked up a basketball. When you win a Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the regular season feels super small in comparison. How can he parachute down to reality to avoid complacency?
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“I would say just to never forget how everything started for me. The underdog and the under guy, it’s always like that in my head,” Dort said. “And I always feel like I would have to prove something. That’s just how I keep myself going.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the Thunder handle the 2025-26 regular season. You can make a sound argument that their toughest opponent will be their own psyche rather than against any other team in the league. One of the youngest rosters in the NBA is about to see the difference in their lives now that they own the Larry O’Brien trophy.
“I would say try our best to approach it the same way we’ve done in the past few years, not really get into what the other people say out loud, the media and stuff says,” Dort said. “Just saying whatever happens in our locker room and in our stuff.”
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: How does Lu Dort think OKC Thunder will handle 2025-26 season?