OKC Thunder Superstar Shares Great Relationship With Mark Daigneault

Oklahoma City is heading into the offseason with sights on improving this roster on the margins and getting another crack at a championship with the 2025-26 campaign being one where the team fell just shy of getting back to the NBA Finals and the 2026-27 season still shaping up to be a title worthy team in Bricktown.

Part of the Oklahoma City Thunder's success has been due to the hiring of Mark Daigneault in November of 2020. Daigneault saw the Thunder through this rebuild process and has consistently maximized this team defensively while guiding Oklahoma City to its first ever championship in 2025.

The Oklahoma City Thunder head coach not only has a championship ring but a coach of the year in the bag as one of the youngest sideline pacers in the NBA. Daigneault has developed a fantastic relationship with this Thunder roster as superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander laid out at exit interviews.

"I think like with Mark he's like at the core of all of it, just a really good guy. I think when you can connect with somebody, it makes everything else easier, like it makes his job, my job easier to work with each other because we have a deeper connection. We talk all the time. Like I also know like what he values in his life and he knows what I value in my life. He knows who I am, and I think it gives you a better outlook on decisions with teammates, and I think he's done a really good job which even though he's young, he's a super achieving coach in the NBA. He's been just a really good human being for a group of guys to follow," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "And I think as a coach like, (indiscernible) like Coach really just cares about competing in basketball and winning, and that's all he cares about. He actually does not care about how people see him, his accolades, what he achieves besides winning."

The reigning two-time NBA MVP continued to wax poetically about his head coach and how he has the right demeanor.

"I think that's it, everything that's unnecessary is cut out. It's almost like he has no like personal ambition. All he wants is for this group to win," Gilgeous-Alexander explained. "When you're coached by a guy like that, you have no choice but to trust him and what he thinks is right because like his intentions are so about everyone else and not his. That's something that's rare to come across in life. Not even just in basketball, but for a co-worker to only care about everyone else outside yourself, you know what I mean? Life doesn't really work like that. He's a special guy. He's a special guy above a special coach. Being able to play for a guy like that, I'm lucky."

Gilgeous-Alexander feeling lucky to play for Daigneault is a high sign of respect and as NBA history tells us, the relationship between the superstar and head coach is critical for long-term success.