The Oklahoma City Thunder have decided to promote former assistant coach Mark Daigneault to fill the team’s head coaching vacancy.
The Oklahoma City job was the last remaining head coaching vacancy with just several weeks left before training camp officially begins in December.
The Thunder chose not to renew the contract of coach Billy Donovan after this season despite Donovan taking the team to the playoffs in 10 of his 11 seasons coaching the team.
Daigneault doesn’t have a lot of time to get acclimated with a team that might not even look the same in a couple of weeks. There have been reports recently that the Thunder might be trading their star guard Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns.
Daigneault has been with the Oklahoma City organization since 2014. After coaching in college at the University of Florida, Daigneault was hired to coach the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate team. Daigneault became a full-time NBA assistant coach last season under Donovan.
The team ended last season with a Game 7 loss to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs after posting a 44-28 record in the shortened regular season.
