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Fresh off a historic 131-80 Game 1 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, the Oklahoma City Thunder learned that only one of their players will represent them among the seven prominent NBA awards.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named an MVP finalist along with Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. And that's it. No Mark Daigneault among the Coach of the Year candidates and surprisingly, no Lu Dort among the Defensive Player of the Year finalists.
The Thunder campaigned hard over the last month of the regular season to include Dort in the conversation. Once Victor Wembanyama was ruled out after the All-Star break with blood clots, the race cracked wide open. The three finalists were Evan Mobley, Draymond Green and Dyson Daniels.
After the announcement, Isaiah Hartenstein and Aaron Wiggins were surprised Dort was left out. Both vouched for him during the regular season. Hartenstein even poked fun at Green and suggested they might need to start a podcast to gain traction.
Another teammate who made his case for Dort was Alex Caruso. He knows a thing or two about defensive accolades. After all, he's been named to two All-Defensive Teams in his career. That side of the ball is his bread and butter.
"That's a media vote. So the media obviously has their opinion on what they think the best defensive players look like this season," Caruso said. "I got a front row version of it night in and night out. Maybe they need to come to Oklahoma City a couple of more games next year.”
The Thunder carried over their defensive dominance to their playoff debut. They held the Grizzlies to a low 80 points. For reference, they were second in the NBA in points per game at 121. Ja Morant was invisible with just 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Dort was his primary assignment and shut him out.
"That's just kinda the uniqueness of a special talent Lu Dort is. To be able to pursue all that, slip on the play, get up and guard arguably the biggest, twitchiest players in the league and block the shot," Caruso said. "That kinda encapsulates the defender he is. I know he's not worried about awards and labels. It would've been nice. Him going out there and going it every night is a good enough award for him."
It's quite a basketball oxymoron for the Thunder to have a historic 68-14 record and only have one award representative. Perhaps voters grew numb to their dominance. Either way, it's a crime not to have one representative for the Defensive Player of the Year award from one of the best defenses in NBA history.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Alex Caruso reacts to Lu Dort being left out of DPOY finalists
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