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Editor’s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic here. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams. *** For the rest of the NBA, the scariest part about the Oklahoma City Thunder’s ascent is their youth. Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 27 years old. Fellow All-Star Jalen Williams is 24. Chet Holmgren, the big man who showed his immense value in their title run last season after enduring years of health setbacks, is 23. Even beyond their celebrated core, the list of dynamic, two-way talents on the roster who haven’t hit their prime yet goes on from there (case in point: Alex Caruso, who is 31, is considered the resident ‘OG’). But what often goes unmentioned, and what makes the entire operation even more elite, is that head coach Mark Daigneault is also getting better. Despite being only 40 — tied for fourth-youngest of all 30 head coaches — he has been in his role as long, or longer, than anyone not named Erik Spoelstra or Steve Kerr (he started in 2020, as did the Clippers’ Ty Lue and Chicago’s Billy Donovan). So much institutional knowledge has been gleaned along the way. Longtime GM Sam Presti hired Daigneault away from Florida coach Billy Donovan to run his G-League team in 2014. Presti later elevated Daigneault to head coach from assistant, where he had also worked under Donovan. It’s hard to overstate the level of synergy so pivotal to their success. All of which makes his perspective on the Thunder’s title defense that much more meaningful. Daigneault doesn’t just coach these Thunder players who have been on the come-up for quite some time now (and who are a league-leading 10-1 so far this season despite Williams being out because of offseason wrist surgery). From Gilgeous-Alexander on down, Daigneault knows them. And as he discussed at length in a recent interview with The Athletic, he also knows that this road to a possible repeat won’t be easy. Even if — so far, anyways — they’re making it look that way. The following interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. You guys are so young, and you could do this for such a long time. Where has your focus been in terms of the mentality relating to winning it all again? What’s the messaging with the group? Yeah, it’s a little counterintuitive. But I actually think we really tried to let them enjoy the 2025 championship, rather than ripping them out of that. We pushed everything in the summer back, so we really left them alone for at least a month and a half where they didn’t even hear from us. We just let them exist and enjoy it. Probably (pushed their normal schedule back) about six weeks. Normally guys are coming into Oklahoma City in early September, and we pushed that back — for the guys that played a lot. So we tried to extend the summer as much as we could, and not feel this insecurity to turn the page too fast, so that they could fully enjoy and decompress from last season. And then we just tried to present it as an end point. Last season ended. This season starts. That was the 2025 championship. No one’s taking it away from us. It’s ours for the rest of our lives, but it’s also over. And then just trying to be really present. But we didn’t over message it. It was more so signaling with the way we approached camp, and how we tried to make it very familiar and normal in terms of our process. You can create a little bit of a monster by over emphasizing the things that everybody knows. They know. So we just jumped right back into it, and that’s how we’ve handled it. Corny question, but I’m going to ask anyway: Do you have any Ted Lasso in you? I’ve seen the show. I haven’t seen all of it, but I don’t know what you mean specifically. Well, we’ve seen what you do tactically, and you’re fantastic on that end of the spectrum. But the show captures the spirit of just trying to know where your guys are at as people, and within themselves, and trying to find a way to get them to unify. I’m curious about your approach to the psyche aspect of the game. Yeah, I probably don’t have any of that character, to answer that question (laughs). Well, you do sort of look like him a little bit (without the mustache, of course). I’m not gonna let you make that connection in an article, so the answer is no (laughs). But what I try to do is that, first of all, they’re highly motivated. They’re ambitious. They’re unbelievably connected. So we try to give them a lot of space when it comes to the locker room, and autonomy, and letting this be theirs. We give them a lot of ownership. So that’s the first part of it. They’ve got an unbelievable thing collectively, and I try not to overmanage that, or over-coach it or over-lead it, because it’s pretty special. And all the things you would be coaching them on, they kind of take the ball and run with it. So there’s that. And then, I do think the NBA — because of the 82 games, travel, the boredom that can come with the season — I think it’s kind of an energy race. Who can generate their own energy? And they do a great job of that. We try to make it as humanized and as enjoyable as possible, because ultimately that’s where energy comes from. We want them to want to come to the gym every day. We want them to be lifted up when they’re with each other or with us. And in order to do that, you’ve got to treat them like people, let them be who they are, appreciate them for who they are, invest in everybody one through 18 (on the roster). So it’s the combination of looking at it through that energy lens and also giving them the autonomy to own the team. My other curiosity is about Shai, and the simple concept of him really wanting to know how good he can be. That self curiosity, for you as a coach, has to be incredibly powerful because you’re not worried about having to motivate your top guy. What part does that play in the whole operation? I mean, there’s a lot of things that have contributed to our success. But that’s a biggie. It’s all the things that you want the team to embody — professionalism, work ethic, having a vision for your work, great makeup, family guy; has a great young family and is so invested in his wife and Ares, his son. The optimism of viewing his experiences as learning opportunities, and then the chase to become the best he can be (is key). And when you draft Thomas Sorber (the center who was taken 15th overall out of Georgetown by the Thunder in June), he’s immediately going to watch that guy. However he acts, he’s going to be watching. That’s what he’s watching. So we have a great organization, have a great locker room, have great players. But that guy is the MVP of the league. He’s a max player. He’s a multi-time All-Star now. All eyes are on him. And when he’s walking that walk, it’s unbelievably powerful. How much better can he get? He can get better. He’s to the point now where he’s touching up the edges. Your growth curve tends to be much higher earlier on, as you are accumulating experiences. But he’s subtly getting better. He’s had a great defensive start (to this season). On the offensive end, he’s moving it earlier and with more intentionality than he ever has. He’s been on that track. It’s not like he’s never passed the ball, but he seems to be kind of managing the game and manipulating the defense more often and more consistently than he ever has. And then, from a leadership standpoint, he continues to understand (more). He’s always walked the walk, and that’s carried the day for him. I think he’s learned how to kind of weaponize that now. He knows his own gravity, and now he’s become more intentional about how vocal he is when he’s choosing to speak, who he’s choosing to speak to, and has just become a more intentional leader. There’s capacity in those areas for him. Did he hone in on anything specific, skill-wise, this summer? Yeah, I think he’s continued to try to hone his off-ball stuff. Most of his stuff in the summer is (working on his) body and offense. He’s not like doing defensive slides in the summer. But his off-ball stuff, his catch-and-shoot stuff, his spacing, remaining involved in the offense. I think in the playoffs, he’s learned — and he’s expressed this — that if a team is hell-bent on taking the ball out of his hands, they can do it. So you’re going to need to be able to participate in the offense if a team’s going to do that, and your teammates are going to have to be empowered to make those plays. And he gets that. (The Warriors’) Steph (Curry) is obviously the king of off-ball stuff. Do you show him any specific players like that when it comes to that kind of work? I don’t show him much. You’d be shocked at how little I coach him, you know? (laughs) It’s the same thing I said about the team. He drives the car when it comes to his life and development. He’s got great vision for himself, so I really try not to interrupt that. I try to be there to help guide him when necessary, and to give my input at different times. But I have such trust in him at this point, so I don’t want to over-coach him. I don’t want to f—- it up. ***
