In an appetizer of what the Thanksgiving festivities could look like, Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins made a beeline towards the opposition bench. After the Oklahoma City Thunder fell in a 113-110 preseason loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the two familiar faces said hi to several folks.
Dort and Wiggins went to dap up Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and the rest of the OKC staff following the buzzer. They even went to wrap their arms around fan-favorite team reporter Nick Gallo. It was a mini-reunion that served as a preview for next month.
Before the Thunder fell for a third consecutive preseason outing, Daigneault reiterated just how huge a success story both Dort and Wiggins were. Sure, they had to say goodbye to both this past summer in a pair of
cost-cutting moves, but that harsh reminder of the NBA's cap-space world doesn't erase their contributions over the years.
"It’s a point of pride because it’s about as mutually beneficial a situation as you can find," Daigneault said. "They were guys who came from the back of the draft. They came from two-way contracts. They came all the way through to prominent rotational positions on highly-successful teams. It’s positioned them to make generational money and play in the NBA for 10-plus years — which both of them will."
Dort and Wiggins will forever be immortalized in OKC lore. They helped the Thunder win the 2025 NBA championship. As Daigneault mentioned, they're also some of their best developmental success stories in franchise history. Both had a firsthand experience in seeing them go from a young, pup rebuild team to an eventual dominant champion.
Because it's preseason, the Thunder only flew a skeleton crew out to Atlanta. Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz continued to show out, but none of OKC's top-10 rotation players, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber made the one-game road trip. Instead, they stayed in the market to prepare for the second night of their road-and-home back-to-back.
Poetically enough, the Thunder will host the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday — you know, the team they beat in a thrilling seven-game series in the 2025 NBA Finals to bring home the Larry O'Brien trophy. Because of the list of absences, the only OKC player who suited up Monday and actually spent time with Dort and Wiggins was two-way player Brooks Barnhizer.
The Thunder will host the Hawks on Wednesday, Nov. 18. Presuming good health, that's when the emotional fireworks will set off. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and the rest of the roster will face off against Dort and Wiggins. Both fan favorites will be showered with applause by the OKC crowd.
Before any of that happens, though, Monday's postgame scene was worth the two-plus hours of preseason hoops.
"They had a lot of on-court success. They weren’t just these culture guys. They were really, really impactful players for us," Daigneault said. "When you step back and look at it, for the program to benefit as much as we did from them and for them to benefit as much as they did from our program, that’s how you draw it up."
Mark Daigneault on the impact Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins had on OKC:
— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) October 12, 2026
“It’s a point of pride because it’s about as mutually beneficial of a situation as you can find. They were guys who came from the back of the draft. They came from two-way contracts. They came all the way… pic.twitter.com/a6jK2t87Jv
Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins dapping up the entire Thunder coaching staff and some of the staff after the preseason game. Including OKC reporter Nick Gallo pic.twitter.com/pds8IRnxNA
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 13, 2026
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins have mini-reunion with OKC coaching staff after preseason game
