Lu Dort is often finding new ways to do some bullshit just on the edge of the accepted rules of basketball. The difference this weekend was that the Oklahoma City Thunder wing went too far and got caught for it, even though that didn't stop his team from playing the victim.
In the fourth quarter of Friday's game, Dort stuck out his leg to trip Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic after the inbound pass. An official called a foul on the play, but while Dort acted like he was wrongly accused, an incensed Jokic popped up and got in his face. Dort's teammate Jaylin Williams stepped in, and he and a still-fuming Jokic grappled as players and coaches attempted to separate them. Isaiah Joe was there, too.
After reviewing the original play, the officiating crew upgraded Dort's foul to a flagrant 2, ejecting him from the game. Jokic and Williams were issued offsetting technical fouls, giving the Nuggets two free throws and the ball. In the NBA, the difference between a flagrant 1 and flagrant 2 is that the former is "unnecessary contact" toward an opponent, while the latter is "unnecessary and excessive contact." Does that feel redundant? Yes. The official pool report with crew chief James Williams provided a little more explanation: The play had a "high potential for injury." Ultimately the Thunder won in overtime, 127-121.
This incident comes about a month after Dort got into a shoving match with New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears as time expired in their Jan. 27 game. The NBA fined the two players $25,000 each for that scuffle. A month before that, during the Thunder's Christmas Day game against the San Antonio Spurs, Dort clipped Victor Wembanyama's leg while he was already engaged with an OKC defender in the paint. There was no penalty issued for that play. And in last year's NBA Finals, Dort was seen delivering a no-look shove to Tyrese Haliburton during a Pacers free throw.
The Thunder as a team thrive when Dort or Alex Caruso prod and pester opponents, up to and sometimes past the point of when a whistle might be blown. Today's NBA is physical, and Jokic doesn't shy away from contact either, but this was clearly unnecessary, if not excessive. Dort intended to clip a player who had recently returned from a hyperextended knee, and he received the appropriate punishment for his actions. The exhausting bonus was how his coach responded.
"I will say this: If [Williams] is running up the floor and gets tripped, we expect a flagrant 2 from this point forward," OKC coach Mark Daigneault said after the game, per ESPN. "That's all. If that's the precedent, if that becomes a malicious play and flagrant 2 is the line in the sand on that, we would expect that if it's [Williams]. We would expect that if it's anybody. And if that's the case, we're good."
Oh, you think Lu Dort deserved a flagrant 2? Well, what if a totally hypothetical thing happened instead? Didn't think of that, did you?
Dort gets away with his little kicks and shoves often, but this incident with Jokic might give him increased attention from officiating crews going forward. He's gradually developing a reputation similar to Draymond Green's: stellar defensive contributions pockmarked with dumb and dangerous leg maneuvers. Opposing coaches will certainly be getting in refs' ears if they think it'll increase the possibility of another flagrant foul against Dort. That said, it's embarrassing to be the defending champions, first in the Western Conference, and whine about punishment for an obviously unsavory play. Grow up!
In any case, this likely won't be the last of this saga: The Nuggets and Thunder play again in OKC on March 9. Surely this will come up again in some form.
