Oklahoma City Thunder head coach
Mark Daigneault has been named the 2023-2024 Kia NBA Coach of the
Year, the league announced Sunday night.
Daigneault, 39, dominated the
coach of the year race, including finalists Jamahl Mosley of the
Orlando Magic and Chris Finch of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Daigneault finished with a total of 473 points with 89 1st place
votes (equivalent to five points), 9 2nd place votes (three
points), and 1 3rd place votes (one point). Mosley came in distant
second with 158 points while Finch came in at third with 105 total
points.
Daigneault and the Thunder
exceeded expectations this season after taking the team to the
West’s no.1 seed despite being the second youngest team in the
league. Nobody expected the Thunder to be this good early already,
and with that Daigneault rightfully deserves to win the
award.
The 39-year-old coach becomes
the second Thunder coach to win the award, joining Scott Brooks who
won in 2009-2010. Under Daigneault, the Thunder went 57-25 in the
regular season and tied for the best record in the Western
Conference, earning the No. 1 playoff seed. Oklahoma City became
the youngest team (weighted by playing time) to finish with the
best record (or tied for the best) in its conference since 1970-71,
the first NBA season with Eastern and Western
conferences.
The Thunder, who were the
10-seed last season, made a 17-win improvement (40-42) to secure a
playoff berth for the first time in four years.
