The Oklahoma City Thunder are no longer home to the “Dorture Chamber.”
On Sunday, the Thunder traded guard Luguentz Dort to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal that also included the Dallas Mavericks, which sent three second-round picks to Oklahoma City. Dallas, meanwhile, received forward Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Why did the Thunder trade Lu Dort?
Oklahoma City trading Dort is largely a financial move. After exercising his player option earlier this offseason, the wing was set to enter the final year of his contract and make $18.722M in apron salary. An extension for the 2024-25 first-team All-Defense selectee star wasn’t feasible.
The Thunder were above the second apron ($221.686M, per Spotrac) before the Dort trade. Teams that are above it are subject to penalties, such as frozen draft picks, free-agency bans and sign-and-trade bans.