Over the next few days, Thunder Wire will rank the 15 West starters among the five positions. Let's look at the 15 best starting small forwards in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder has had a staple at the spot with Lu Dort. The 25-year-old worked his way up from undrafted rookie to one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

After the brutal injury to the Defensive Player of the Year favorite Victor Wembanyama, this leaves the race for the award wide open. The Thunder, who have the league’s top-ranked defense, could see defensive menace Luguentz Dort win it.

Although he's deserved it in years past, OKC Thunder wing Lu Dort will finally earn an NBA All-Defensive Team honor this season.

In 2019, Luguentz Dort—Lu to friends ... SI: You guys were great last season. Top seed in the Western Conference. What has made you better this season? LD: Defensively. I feel like our offense hasn’t really changed. I just feel like we’ve really ...

Oklahoma City used a 15-6 run to create a slight buffer in the second quarter, then outscored Memphis 30-23 in the third.

But do you have individual goals? First team All-Defense? Defensive Player of the Year? Lugentz Dort: Honestly, the biggest goal is to go out there and perform every night for my teammates.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder will look to move closer to clinching the best record in the Western Conference when they travel to San Antonio to face the struggling, short-handed Spurs