Luguentz Dort celebrated his NBA championship with a festive parade through his home neighbourhood on Thursday.
The Oklahoma City Thunder swingman lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy high while cruising in a Lamborghini as hundreds of cheering fans — and a Haitian marching band — followed along rue Charleroi in the city’s Montreal North borough.
Dort then jumped out of the car and walked among a crowd of locals and reporters to Parc Pilon, where hundreds more waited to greet their native son.
Dozens of kids, many sporting Dort’s OKC No. 5, lined up for their turn on the court at Parc Pilon. Others held signs reading “Lu the champ” and “Mtl-Nord fier de son champion,” which translates to “Mtl-Nord proud of its champion,” and chanted “Luuuuu!” as Dort took the stage to address the fans.
“Any success I have, I want to share with my people. There’s not a lot of us that get to make it to the big stage. As soon as we won, I was like, ‘Yeah, I gotta come back home, especially where I grew up,” said Dort.
“At a young age, coming from here, I didn’t have a specific guide to look at, to be like ‘I want to be like them.’ To be in this position in the kids’ eyes today, it’s huge.”
A day earlier, Dort signed Montreal’s “Livre d’Or” during a special invitation to City Hall from Mayor Valérie Plante, who recognized the homegrown talent for his community work and on-court achievements.
The 26-year-old Dort – with Canadian MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – helped lead the Thunder to the NBA title with a seven-game series win over the Indiana Pacers, a team that featured fellow Montrealer Bennedict Mathurin.
Dort and Mathurin grew up only blocks apart in the hardscrabble borough, home to one of Canada’s largest Haitian communities.”
Dort ultimately became the fourth player from Montreal to win an NBA title, joining Bill Wennington (Chicago Bulls, 1996 to 1998), Joel Anthony (Miami Heat, 2012 and 2013) and Chris Boucher (Toronto Raptors, 2019).
He was also the most impactful Montrealer on a championship team.
A starter for the Thunder, Dort regularly takes on the most challenging defensive assignments as a suffocating on-ball defender. This past season, he was named to the All-NBA defensive first-team and placed fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, while scoring 10 points per game on a talent-packed OKC.
Dort also embodies the underdog spirit, having been passed up by the entire league at the 2019 draft.
