Sam Presti is the only general manager the Oklahoma City Thunder have had since relocating to the city in 2008.
In that time, Presti has earned a reputation for making smart trades and being one of the best drafters in the league. As a result, most of the Thunder’s best players have come to the team in one of those two ways, as opposed to in free agency.
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It’s been a worthwhile strategy as the Thunder just won their first ring in franchise history, defeating the Indiana Pacers in seven games. However, that doesn’t mean that Presti hasn’t made a savvy free agent signing or two.
Matt Velazquez of Bleacher Report recently identified the best free agent signing for each team. For the Thunder, Velazquez identified Luguentz Dort.
Dort wasn’t a traditional free agency signing, though. Instead, Dort was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2019. Still, for these purposes, Dort counts, and is clearly the most impactful signing.
Velazquez offered the following regarding Dort:
Dort is the exact kind of diamond in the rough you would expect general manager Sam Presti to find. And with five seasons as a regular starter, Dort was also the longest-tenured player on the 2025 championship team. He’s averaged 12.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while playing the kind of versatile, physical high-level defense that (finally) earned him first-team All-Defensive recognition this year.
Dort’s addition might not have been splashy, but he grew within OKC’s system and developed into an indispensable piece on a championship team. It just seems fitting.
As Velazquez mentioned, Dort wasn’t a splashy addition, but he’s been crucial to the team’s success and is currently the longest-tenured player on the team.
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In 2024-25, Dort played in 71 games in the regular season and averaged 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. The former UDFA also earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors for his elite efforts on that side of the floor in 2024-25.
For this article, Velazquez did not include any players from the era of the Seattle SuperSonics. That made the pickings slimmer, as the Thunder’s most impactful players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were either drafted or traded for.
Patrick Patterson, Anthony Morrow, Mike Muscala, and Nerlens Noel are some notable free agent adds who were useful for the Thunder, but none were the level of Dort. Isaiah Joe, who is also still on the roster, was another useful free agent add, but also not at the level of Dort.
In the NBA, a ton of second-round picks don’t even end up making an impact in the league, and it’s even rare for UDFAs to do so. Dort became a regular starter in just his second season in the league, and inked a five-year, $87.5 million extension during the summer of 2022.