Mark Daenoo led the Oklahoma City Thunder to his first NBA Championship since changing from the Seattle Supersonics.
Oklahoma City Lightning has experienced major reconstruction since the departure of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
The Front Office has compiled a largely homemade roster that led to the 2025 NBA Championship.
But if there’s one person worthy of great credibility along with the roster, it’s nothing more than head coach Mark Deenoo.
Daigneault initially began his coaching journey with the NCAA as an assistant coach for Holy Cross and Florida basketball programs.
However, in 2019, Daigneault moved to the NBA by joining the Thunder as an assistant coach. He only had one season left in the role.
After all, the Thunder nominated Daigneault as Billy Donovan’s successor for the 2020-21 season. Given that the franchise has entered the rebuilding phase, the Thunder missed the playoffs for the third year in a row under coach Daigneault.
However, patience paid off as Daigneault led Thunder to the first species with a 57-25 record for the 2023-24 NBA season. Daigneault also won the NBA Coach of the Year award that season.
A year later, Daigneault became the first head coach in OKC history, lifting up Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Thanks to his younger core, Thunder will be a title contender for at least a few years.
As defending champions, Daigneault and Thunder’s biggest goal is to repeat the successes they had last season.
Come to think of it, this feat has not been achieved since the 2017-18 NBA season. Yes, coach Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors were the last NBA team to win the back-to-back championship.
Since then, fans have witnessed the new NBA champion for the seventh year in a row.