Daigneault has Thunder on rise
OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joked at first when asked what makes Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault good at his job.
“He’s annoying. Always nagging,” the All-Star guard said with a chuckle.
He continued with a more serious tone.
“The best thing about him is no matter who you are, he has a standard,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And it doesn’t matter if you’ve been here five years, if you’re the best player on the team, if you’re the worst player on the team, if you just got here last week — there’s a standard, and you’ve got to play to it and live up to it on and off the court. I think that’s what’s allowed our culture to be what it is as a group. And it starts with him.”
Those qualities have been rewarded. Daigneault, 39, was named NBA Coach of the Year on Sunday after leading one of the league’s youngest teams to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. He joins Scott Brooks (2010) as the only Thunder coaches to win the award.
The other finalists were Minnesota’s Chris Finch and Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley. Finch led the Timberwolves to a 56-26 record and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoffs after they had to go through the play-in tournament to make the playoffs the previous year. Mosley led the Magic to a 47-35 record this season after the team went 34-48 last season.
Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers, who was Coach of the Year with Orlando in 2001, said Daigneault was clearly ahead of the pack this season.
“Working with a bunch of young guys and getting all these young guys to buy in on a championship level — I don’t think people understand how hard that is to do,” Rivers said before the Thunder beat the Bucks late in the regular season.
Daigneault spent five years as head coach of the Thunder’s G-League affiliate. He had a .572 winning percentage with four playoff appearances and three division titles. He took over as Thunder coach in 2020 after Billy Donovan left to become the Chicago Bulls coach.
Oklahoma City went 2250 in Daigneault’s first year as Thunder head coach, and then 24-58 in his second before signs of a turnaround surfaced. Last season, Oklahoma City went 40-42 and reached the playin tournament, and Daigneault finished second in the Coach of the Year voting.
The Thunder went 57-25 this season and clinched a tie for the best record in the West on the dramatic final day of the regular season.