Mark Daigneault led the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder to their first-ever NBA Championship since altering their title from the Seattle SuperSonics.
The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder have gone by means of a significant rebuild because the departure of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
The entrance workplace put collectively a largely home-grown roster that led them to the 2025 NBA Championship.
Nonetheless, together with the roster, if there’s one one who deserves a plethora of credit score, it’s none aside from head coach Mark Daigneault.
Daigneault initially started his teaching journey within the NCAA as an assistant coach with the Holy Cross and Florida basketball packages.
However in 2019, Daigneault made the transition to the NBA by becoming a member of the Thunder as an assistant coach. He remained in that function for only one season.
In spite of everything, the Thunder named Daigneault because the successor to Billy Donovan for the 2020-21 season. Contemplating the franchise entered a rebuilding section, the Thunder missed the playoffs for 3 straight years beneath coach Daigneault.
Nonetheless, the endurance paid off as Daigneault led the Thunder to the primary seed within the 2023-24 NBA season with a 57-25 report. Daigneault additionally received the NBA’s Coach of the Yr award for that season.
A 12 months later, Daigneault turned the primary head coach in OKC historical past to elevate the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Due to a younger core, the Thunder will doubtless be a title contender for a minimum of the following couple of years.
Because the defending champions, Daigneault and the Thunder’s largest objective ought to be to repeat final season’s success.
Talking of which, this feat hasn’t been achieved because the 2017-18 NBA season. Sure, the Steve Kerr-coached Golden State Warriors have been the final NBA group to win back-to-back championships.
Since then, followers have witnessed a brand new NBA champion for seven straight years.
