Oklahoma City’s offseason didn’t just change the roster. It also set up a new kind of challenge for Mark Daigneault.
The Thunder still look like one of the NBA’s top title threats heading into next season, but the path there won’t be quite as clean as it has been. Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins are now out of the picture, which means the rotation will have a different look than it has in recent years.
That doesn’t mean Oklahoma City is short on options. The Thunder still have capable replacements, and much of the postseason rotation remains intact. Even so, there’s going to be some shuffling to do, and that’s where Daigneault enters a tougher stretch.
The added wrinkle is the youth coming behind the veterans. Several players in their first or second season are pushing to make their mark and work their way into the rotation, which gives Daigneault more moving pieces to manage over the course of the year. With new faces trying to earn trust and carve out roles, the coach’s job gets more complicated by the day.
That hasn’t exactly scared him off before. Injuries have made the last couple of seasons a grind, sometimes wiping out entire position groups for weeks at a time. Through all of that, Daigneault still guided Oklahoma City to the best record in the league in back-to-back years.
Now the pressure shifts to something different: blending talent while keeping the Thunder at the top. Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber, Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz all fit into that conversation, and figuring out how to get them involved without losing ground in the standings may be the biggest test Daigneault faces.
There’s also the reality of the current CBA, which makes team-building a little tougher for Oklahoma City once it enters the second apron. If Daigneault can help the youngest players develop into real contributors, that could matter far beyond next season.
Health, naturally, could make all of this easier. If the Thunder get better injury luck and can keep a fuller roster available on a nightly basis, Daigneault’s life gets simpler in a hurry, especially if his big three can stay on the floor together.
Still, this is the coach Oklahoma City has trusted for more than half a decade, and that trust has paid off. The Thunder have given Daigneault the keys, and based on the way he’s handled every other challenge, there’s plenty of reason to think he’ll handle this one too.
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