What Former Sun Devil Can Win the NBA Finals?

With the NBA Finals officially set between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, one Arizona State alum looks to enter a prestigious club of ASU royalty.

Luguentz Dort has the chance to become the first Sun Devil to win the NBA Championship since 2014, when Jeff Pendergraph (Ayres) of the San Antonio Spurs won it against the Miami Heat. 

Since Pendergraph, only Eddie House, Byron Scott, Mark Landsberger, and Lionel Hollins have the pleasure of calling themselves NBA Champions. 

Dort has carved himself an immense role in the NBA since he arrived in 2019. He declared for the NBA Draft after his freshman season in Tempe, only to go undrafted and eventually get signed by the Thunder as a 20-year-old. 

Quickly, he became a fixture in Oklahoma City’s future as the Thunder were serious about locking him up for the long term. They declined his team option two years into his four-year contract, and immediately signed him to a five-year, $87.5 million deal.

Since then, he’s built a reputation for becoming a ferocious on-ball and perimeter defender, causing fits to superstars such as LeBron James, Donovan Mitchell, and Jaylen Brown. Not only that, this past season, he had the 12th-lowest defensive rating out of the whole league with a 109.9 rating.

Dort took a calculated risk when declaring for the Draft after his freshman year. While he was an important piece to Arizona State’s program, he wasn’t an immediate NBA Draft prospect. To go undrafted after declaring had to have been a kick to the ego.

But throughout his career, he never wavered and similar to the dog-like mentality he exudes on the court, he clawed his way into an NBA rotation and never looked back.

For Arizona State, it’s a program that has delivered dozens of quality players in the NBA, but very few champions. If Dort manages to come away with a ring, it solidifies his legacy as one of the more successful ASU alums in history.

The NBA is a superstar-driven league. It uses highlights, viral moments, and big markets as a strategy to grow the league, and to its credit, it’s worked. It generates billions of dollars per year and has worked its way into lucrative TV deals that have helped players like Dort get paid.

However, players like Dort are what drive a team to success. This postseason is filled with superstars, and his teammate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, won MVP for good reason. But wins, especially in the playoffs, aren’t won solely on buckets; they're won on stops.