Thunder coach fires back at Frank Vogel’s accusation of Lu Dort flopping

On Friday evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder put together one of their most impressive performances in a season that has been filled with games that fall into that category, blowing out the visiting Phoenix Suns despite playing without the services of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Suns were coming off of an impressive road win vs the Denver Nuggets two nights prior but looked absolutely listless against a Thunder squad that was operating on all cylinders in front of their loud and proud home fans.

During the game, one source of controversy was a flopping technical foul that was called on Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort, one that the league has since rescinded. However, that didn’t stop Suns head coach Frank Vogel from calling out Dort after the game.

“The league has got to look all the flopping that Lu Dort does cause it’s ridiculous how he gets calls. If they’re going to get calls like that, then you’re going to have an advantage. You can’t just fall down every time there’s contact and get a whistle,” said Vogel, per Duane Rankin of AZ Central.

Now, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is indirectly firing back at Vogel.

“I’m not going to get into the comments … What I will say is, I’ve coached Lu for five years, and he’s as high integrity of a players I’ve coached. Plain and simple. Plays the game hard, plays it the right way, not a dirty player. He is an irritant, but he’s an irritant within the rules of the game,” said Daigneault, per Joel Lorenzi of Oklahoman Sports on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.

An integral piece for the Thunder

Despite his relatively youthful age, Lu Dort is still one of the longest-tenured members of this current Thunder roster, having been on the team the last time they appeared in the NBA Playoffs back in 2020 in the Bubble, losing in the first round to the Houston Rockets in seven games. Since then, Dort has maintained all of the defensive qualities and “irritant” like persona that Daigneault described for opposing offenses, but has also turned himself into a consistent shooter on the perimeter, making him a valuable piece for Oklahoma City alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the starting lineup.

Although he does have a reputation as being somewhat of a pest, Dort is not exactly known to be much of a flopper. Rather, that distinction is usually cast upon Gilgeous-Alexander, who uses an array of tricks to earn himself one of the highest free throw rates in the NBA.

In any case, the Thunder are now in a fight with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets for the number one seed in the Western Conference. Oklahoma City has an extremely small amount of postseason experience on their roster but are hoping that their youthful optimism and undeniable talent will be enough to carry them when the game gets tougher come playoff time.

The Thunder next take the floor on Sunday vs the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.