The Los Angeles Lakers are in dire need of a lockdown perimeter defender who can help anchor the team’s efforts for years to come. Said player would instantly alleviate pressure from Luka Doncic and LeBron James, and perhaps even enhance the quality of play from Austin Reaves.
One can only dream of a scenario in which the Lakers could acquire a player the caliber of Luguentz Dort—but what if they could actually discover reality in that dream scenario?
Dort is a standard-setting player for perimeter defenders. He helped the Oklahoma City Thunder win the 2025 NBA championship and earned an All-Defensive First Team selection that many have argued was long overdue.
A lockdown defensive player who welcomes the challenge of taking on an opposing team’s best scorer or playmaker, Dort is everything Los Angeles is dreaming of acquiring.
In addition to dominating defensively, Dort shot 39.4 percent from beyond the arc in 2023-24 and 41.2 percent in 2024-25. He delivered in the volume department, as well, at 2.0 and 2.4 three-point field goals made per game respectively.
Despite Dort’s undeniable brilliance, the Thunder have created a realistic outcome in which he’s looking for a new home at some point in the next 12 months.
Thunder’s depth, extensions could make Luguentz Dort odd man out
Oklahoma City has signed its star trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams to lucrative extensions. That much was inevitable, but what may more directly impact Dort is the franchise’s decision to sign former Lakers guard Alex Caruso to a four-year, $81 million extension.
Dort, meanwhile, has a club option worth just over $18.2 million for the 2026-27 season—and if he can’t come to terms with Oklahoma City on an extension, he may begin to think of his next move.
If the Thunder opt against extending Dort, then it becomes a matter of whether he’ll become a free agent in 2026 or 2027. Accepting the club option and then re-signing him seems like an obvious choice, but he won’t be the only player hitting the open market.
Oklahoma City will also need to find money to extend or re-sign sixth man and postseason standout Cason Wallace, who will become a restricted free agent in 2027.
It’s exclusively a product of the harsh reality that there’s only so much money to go around in a salary-capped league. With fear of the second apron impacting every franchise, Dort could thus be a financial casualty who’s all but pushed into signing with a new team in 2026 or 2027.
If that scenario plays out, then it would behoove the Lakers to exhaust every resource to acquire Dort—whether via trade or free agency.
Doing so would be a clear sign to Doncic that Los Angeles’ front office is ready to find him the help he needs to win a title. He’d be flanked by an All-Defense honoree who has experience playing alongside relatively ball-dominant offensive players. Moreover, he’d be teaming up with an NBA champion.
This is all based on pure speculation that Dort may not sign an extension, but it’s more realistic than ever to believe the Lakers will have a chance at one of the best defenders in the NBA.
That could play out as soon as the 2026 offseason.
