Dort’s Atlanta debut, Mathurin’s contract saga: a new NBA season for two Haitian-Canadian stars
The NBA released its full 2026-27 regular-season schedule on Thursday, and for the Haitian diaspora, one storyline stands out right away: Luguentz Dort, the Montreal-born defensive hard-working of Haitian descent, will make his debut in an Atlanta Hawks uniform on opening night, October 21, on the road against the Orlando Magic.
Dort, whose parents, Lufruentz Dort and Erline Mortel, emigrated from Saint-Marc, Haiti, to Montreal in their early twenties, spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, becoming one of the league’s most respected perimeter defenders and a key piece of Oklahoma City’s 2024-25 championship run. He was traded toAtlanta on July 19 in a three-team deal that also involved the Dallas Mavericks, with the Thunder shedding payroll and picking up draft compensationin the move.
In Atlanta, Dort joins a young, athletic Hawks roster built around Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, giving the team what should be one of the more physical defensive backcourts in the Eastern Conference. Along with Wednesday’s opener at Orlando, the Hawks will play their home opener on October 24 against the Houston Rockets before hosting Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat on October 28.
Dort has never hidden his pridein his Haitian roots. During the NBA’s 2020 restart in Orlando, he wore “Respekte Nou” (Haitian Creole for “Respect Us”) , on the back of his jersey, and he has spoken often about growing up speaking Creole at home in Montreal-Nord, the same working-class borough that produced his childhood friend and fellow NBA player, Bennedict Mathurin.
Mathurin’s opening-week status still unsettled
Mathurin, also of Haitian descent through parents Elvie Jeune and the late Félix Mathurin, was traded from the Indiana Pacers to the Los Angeles Clippers at last season’s trade deadline. But as the new schedule drops, his status with the team remains technically unresolved: Mathurin is a restricted free agent who has yet to sign a new contract with Los Angeles, and the Clippers have been exploring both signing and a possible sign-and-trade in recent weeks.
If he remains with Los Angeles, Mathurin’s regular season will open October 21 at home against the Sacramento Kings at Intuit Dome. Averaging 17.4 points a game after arriving in Los Angeles last season, Mathurin remains one of the more sought-after names of the summer, with the Clippers saying they would prefer to keep him if a deal can be reached at the right price.
A Haitian showdown later in the season
Fans hoping to see Dort and Mathurin share the floor will have to wait until the spring. Per the schedule released Thursday, the Hawks and Clippers meet twice: on March 20 in Los Angeles and again on March 31 in Atlanta. It would mark a rare regular-season meeting between two of the league’s Haitian-Canadian players, both raised in Montreal-Nord, on opposite benches for the first time in their NBA careers.
Dort and Mathurin are among a growing group of NBA playersof Haitian descent, both born and raised in Montreal to parents who emigrated from Haiti. Whatever happens with Mathurin’s contract situation, opening week will put both players’ new teams on national television early in the 2026-27season, giving Haitian basketball fans plenty to watch as the year begins.
