Lu Dort trade grades: Who won the 3-team deal involving ex-No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher

It’s been known the moment the Oklahoma City Thunder started trending towards championship contender, the team would have some tough decisions on the horizon to stay under the NBA’s punitive second apron.

The toughest of those decisions so far came Sunday as the team agreed to trade three-and-D specialist Lu Dort, who was one of the Thunder’s two longest-tenured players along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Details of the deal were reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Dort lands with the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal that also involves the Dallas Mavericks, and he becomes the third player of OKC’s 2025 title team to be dealt this offseason following the trades of Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, who was also traded to Atlanta. The moves helped OKC shed $224 million in payroll and tax, according to Charaina.

Here are the details of this latest deal and how each team fared.

Strictly from a basketball perspective, it’s hard to argue OKC won this trade considering it lost a valuable player from its championship core without replacing him. However, understanding it was a deal the Thunder had to make due to cap restrictions, I do at least respect how they went about it.

Picking up the option on Dort’s contract earlier this offseason allowed them to trade him for picks rather than lose him for nothing. And they did right by the 2025 All-Defensive first-teamer by sending him to a competitive Atlanta squad positioned to re-sign him to a big deal.

My only question is whether OKC could have gotten more for Dort had they held his expiring contract into next season, closer to the trade deadline. But doing the deal now at least allows them to begin adjusting to life without an important glue player.

By adding Dort, Atlanta now rosters two of the top-four 2025 Defensive Player of the Year vote-getters, along with Dyson Daniels, fortifying an already potent defensive team.

We can firmly grade Atlanta’s 2024 draft selection of Risacher at No. 1 overall a fail, but because this is only a grade of what they got in return for the player Risacher has been, it’ll be a little kinder. There’s no denying the Hawks got better with Dort, whose career three-point percentage (36%) is about the same on higher volume. And Nembhard gives them depth at point guard.

That said, the 21-year-old Risacher still has untapped potential and was actually a much better overall offensive performer last season with a superior .557 true shooting percentage compared to Dort at .524. Time will tell, but this could end up being a very short-sighted move for the Hawks.

Speaking of that untapped potential of Risacher, the Mavs get a chance to see what more he has to offer for little cost. And putting him next to Cooper Flagg gives them two of the last three No. 1 overall picks in the same lineup, positioning Dallas for a bright future if Risacher blossoms.