If you’re staying in a hotel room in an NBA city and you hear someone fiddling with your door in the early hours of the morning, don’t be alarmed — it could be Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault.
Daigneault says that amid the grind of a long, travel-heavy NBA season, it’s not uncommon for him to sometimes use his key card on the wrong door because of how many different rooms he’s using on a night-to-night basis.
“I was on the 10th floor yesterday, and I’m on the 12th floor today,” Daigneault told NBC News at the NBA Cup in December. “The thing that people don’t see is how long the season is. It’s a gauntlet of travel, games. It’s difficult to maintain your energy throughout the course of the season.
“No one would trade it for anything, but it can be a grind. Having people that bring energy to that every single day, that’s what gives everybody oxygen.”
Fortunately for Daigneault, he can breathe easily, because he coaches one of the most energetic teams in the league.
The Thunder, which entered the season with the youngest and most inexperienced roster in the NBA, have dominated the league with style for well over half the season. Led by a slew of under-30 stars, Oklahoma City is on pace to finish with a franchise-best 66 wins and the top seed in the Western Conference.
“Everybody enjoys being around each other,” Daigneault said, “and it brings great energy to our operation.”
It’s not only energy — it’s success.
Through 58 games, the Thunder (47-11) boast the second-best record in the league, the NBA’s top defense, an MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a chance to win more games in the regular games than Oklahoma City ever did when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were in town.
And the Thunder are doing all of that even though their opening day roster had the youngest age (24.15) and least experience (2.56 seasons) of any franchise.
“I definitely count my blessings with this team,” All-Star forward Jalen Williams said. “It’s super unique that everybody’s around the same stage as their career, so we’re able to kind of help each other. It’s an extremely rare thing, given the concept and the landscape of the NBA. I don’t take it for granted.”
The landscape of the NBA is one in which players can be moved, whether by their teams or their own engineering, at any moment. Just ask Luka Dončić, the superstar traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers in a blockbuster deal this month.
Oklahoma City itself has been at the mercy of such movement, including when Durant left in free agency in 2016 or when it traded Westbrook in 2019.
The current version of the Thunder, on the other hand, has come about after years of careful, steady building by general manager Sam Presti.
Since Daigneault was hired in 2020, Oklahoma City has increased its win total every year, from 22 to 24 to 40 to 57 last season, and is on pace for more than 60 this one. In the same time, Presti has added players such as Williams, centers Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein and guards Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso around Gilgeous-Alexander and sturdy defender Lu Dort to create one of the toughest teams in the NBA.
The head of the snake on offense is Gilgeous-Alexander, who averages 32.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists a night. His herky-jerky drives into the paint are nightmares for opposing defenders, and he’s equally skilled getting to the rim as he is stepping back for a 3-pointer or getting to the free-throw line.
“What makes him unique as a player is what makes him unique as a guy,” Daigneault said. “He’s a self-made person who has forged himself into this player. He’s never standing still; he’s never sitting on his success. He’s constantly improving and putting the work in. He’s a great partner in the organization.”
Defensively, the Thunder are the best team we’ve seen in years. Literally. Oklahoma City’s defensive rating of 105.0 is the best of any team in the last five seasons. In an era when it’s getting harder and harder to slow down offenses, the Thunder — armed with length and physicality on the perimeter and size in the paint — have cracked the code.
And Oklahoma City does all of that with the togetherness more reminiscent of a college team. For example, if one player is being interviewed on the court after a big performance, typically the entire team will surround him so it’s not just one player getting the spotlight. Sometimes the team will even start barking in unison. (“No, you don’t have to worry about that,” Daigneault said when he was asked whether he’ll ever join the woofing.)
Of course, like most great teams trying to reach the mountaintop, the Thunder have had to go through growing pains. In 2023, they missed the playoffs after they failed to secure a spot via the Play-In Tournament. In 2024, Oklahoma City was the No. 1 seed in the West but lost in the second round to the Dallas Mavericks. Those experiences have been valuable learning moments for the young team.
“When you get down to those games where it could be kind of like mucky and not going as well, you have something to fall back on,” Williams said when he was asked what the team took away from last season’s postseason elimination. “The best teams are the ones that can find a way to win with all the little stuff that they did during the season.”
So far this year, Oklahoma City has built the defensive habits of a champion while maintaining a top-10 offense. Combine those factors with the Thunder’s continuity amid upheaval in the West, as well as the potential to have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, and Oklahoma City is in great position to make a run to the NBA Finals.
“At the core, this is a group of great people,” Daigneault said. “They have great character. They love being a part of the team. They love competing together. They play for one another, and it’s really refreshing and certainly a pleasure to coach.”
