Mark Daigneault's hometown always believed in Thunder coach, long before NBA Finals run
Steve Dubzinski is often asked a variation of the same question: Did you ever see Mark Daigneault becoming this?
The 'this' part of that prompt has only gotten more unbelievable with time. Did Dubzinski, Daigneault's high school basketball coach in Leominster, Massachusetts, ever see Daigneault becoming an NBA head coach? Coaching in the All-Star Game?? In the NBA Finals???
Advertisement
'I knew he was gonna be successful, and he wanted to coach,' Dubzinski told The Oklahoman. 'Where that journey was going to end? I don't know. Could you have predicted an NBA Finals? Probably not.'
Dubzinski was asked The Question by a Boston-area TV station recently. And before he knew it, the wise-cracking former coach, now a Massachusetts high school sports administrator, had talked himself into an analogy that put Daigneault in rather lofty company.
'I don't think people had Leo in English class as a sophomore and said, 'Oh, that young man's gonna be the pope.' Or Barack Obama in sixth grade art class and say, 'He's gonna be the president.''
Dubzinski had to stop himself.
Advertisement
'It's good that I just threw Coach Daigneault in the same category as the president and the pope,' Dubzinski said with a laugh.
Daigneault hasn't quite reached world leader status, but he and the Thunder are four wins away from becoming world champs. And back in Daigneault's hometown of Leominster — 1,700 miles from Oklahoma City — that's a pretty big deal.
The Daigneault family is beloved in the town of 44,000 just west of Boston. It's Celtics country, but given the Thunder's ties to the area with Daigneault, Sam Presti and assistant GM Rob Hennigan, there's a proud pocket of Thunder orange and blue in the Bay State.
MUSSATTO: How original Paul George trade between Thunder, Pacers created unlikely NBA Finals
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault talks with players during Game 2 of the NBA playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Oklahoma City won 149-106.
Mark Daigneault's Leominster, Massachusetts, roots
Mark Daigneault is an old soul. Anybody who's known him will confirm. It's as true of Daigneault at age 40 as it was when he was 14.
Advertisement
'Perfect way to put it,' said Billy McEvoy, who met Daigneault in fourth grade. 'He would take a ribbing from his group of friends for that.'
'Let loose,' they would tell Daigneault.
But Daigneault, even as a kid, was always the adult in the room.
'He was the captain of our high school basketball team for the qualities you look for in a captain — he was a leader, he led by example,' McEvoy said. 'Not even just in sports. I have kids now, and you want your kids to be friends with someone like Mark Daigneault.'
Dubzinski described Daigneault as a 'cerebral' player who 'got the most out of his athletic ability.'
Advertisement
In other words, a good high school basketball player who maybe could've played small-college ball, but who was destined to coach.
Daigneault was a shooter, 'make no mistake about it,' Dubzinski said. And a charge-taker that would make Jaylin Williams proud.
'I'm not surprised they're as good as they are defensively because Mark defended,' Dubzinski said. 'He was the master at taking the charge. It was before the flop, so maybe that played a little bit into it, frankly. But he could sell it.'
More: What impresses OKC Thunder coach Mark Daigneault most about Pacers, NBA Finals foe?
Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) talks with head coach Mark Daigneault during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Monday, May, 5, 2025.
Daigneault leads the No. 1 defense in the NBA — a juggernaut of a unit that's hard-wired for freneticism. The Thunder's offense is buoyed by the league's MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose coolness is contrasted by Daigneault's everymaness.
Advertisement
'He hasn't changed who he is as a person despite the enormous success that he's had,' McEvoy said. 'I love that about him.'
After five years as head coach of the G League Oklahoma City Blue and one season as a Thunder assistant under Billy Donovan — one of Daigneault's many mentors — Daigneault was elevated to Thunder head coach prior to the 2020-21 season.
Having navigated the Thunder through its rebuild with a development-first approach, the implementer of Presti's plan, Daigneault is now leading the most dominant squad in basketball. The Thunder set an NBA record for average margin of victory en route to a 68-win season.
Now Daigneault, in Year 5, is opposite Rick Carlisle, dean of the college of coaches, in the NBA Finals.
Advertisement
'He's been very good to me as I've come up here,' Daigneault said. 'Couldn't have more respect for him.'
No one is questioning the coaching chops on either sideline, but Daigneault's team is stocked with more talent. OKC is an overwhelming favorite to win the title and raise the franchise's first title banner since relocating to the plains in 2008.
'It's obviously a great opportunity for all of us,' Daigneault said. 'Everybody that gets to participate in the NBA Finals, it's something to be grateful for. And one of the cool things is you get to share it with the people you care about and the people that care about you.'
Like the people who knew Mark Daigneault back in his Leominster days, when they knew what he wanted to be, but not how far it would take him.
Advertisement
'He was born,' McEvoy said, 'to be a coach.'
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com . Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .
More: NBA Finals 2025: From Loud City to Pacers Nation, get to know OKC and Indianapolis
NBA Finals Game 1: Thunder vs. Pacers
TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Paycom Center in OKC (ABC)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has support of Massachusetts hometown
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
44 minutes ago
- USA Today
JJ Redick saw Tyrese Haliburton's potential three years ago
JJ Redick saw Tyrese Haliburton's potential three years ago Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers has been a rising star for some time now, but over the last several weeks, he has become perhaps as dangerous a player as there is in the NBA. During the regular season, there were quite a few people who thought he was overrated, and he wasn't even named to this year's All-Star team. But he has exploded during the playoffs and hit a number of clutch and game-winning shots, including the dagger he nailed just before time expired in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday. Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick may have seen at least some of this coming. In February 2022, when the Sacramento Kings traded Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers along with Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb, Redick said point-blank that Haliburton was the best player on the Kings. "This is some form of malpractice on the Kings' part," Redick said of the trade. "... Tyrese Haliburton has been the best player on that team. ... He was determined to turn things around and be part of that rebuild in Sacramento. I know he's shocked right now, but they traded away their best player." The Kings took Haliburton with the No. 12 pick in the 2020 draft, and at the time, he was starting in their backcourt alongside De'Aaron Fox. Fox was putting up much better scoring numbers, and to this day, he has continued to average more points than Haliburton, but Haliburton has been the better 3-point shooter, passer and facilitator. Haliburton led the NBA in assists per game last season, and he now has Indiana just three wins away from an NBA championship. Meanwhile, Sacramento made the playoffs in 2023 as the third seed in the Western Conference but has failed to reach the playoffs in both of the last two seasons.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Chiefs DL coach Joe Cullen is impressed by rookie linemen: 'They have great motors'
During his press conference on Wednesday, Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen praised the work of two rookie defensive linemen so far at OTAs. "Well, the two are really good. I mean, when you study the draft and our scouting staff, led by our general manager, Brett Veach," said Cullen, "they do a great job, and they were guys that we identified and had opportunities to really get around and bring them in for a visit, Zoom with them. They both love football, and they're both football junkies, and they're really good players." Advertisement The Chiefs added the two defensive standouts, selecting Tennessee's Omarr Norman-Lott in the second round with the 63rd pick and Louisville's Ashton Gillotte in the third round with the 66th pick. "Well, they have great motors; they're powerful, explosive, and sudden. And both of them at their school, where they're represented, great in their role," said Cullen, "When you look at Omarr (Norman-Lott), when you broke down his snaps this past year, he led the NCAA and pass rush win ratio by interior tackles. And then Ashton (Gillotte) played all over the place. He played end and inside. '4i' was powerful. He was explosive when he went back to his junior year. Before his sophomore year, he had 11 and a half sacks. He was playing more on the edge. This year, they moved them inside a little bit. It's a '4i' kind of like Felix (Anudike-Uzomah) did when he was at K-State. So both those guys are going to bring great energy to the room, and they're doing that now." During his last season at Louisville, Gillotte earned Second-team All-ACC honors. He led the Cardinals with 10 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks and started 12 games with 43 total tackles. Norman-Lott recorded 44 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, and one fumble recovery in his two seasons at Tennessee. This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Kansas City Chiefs DL coach Joe Cullen is impressed by rookie linemen
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sixers draft history: Jahlil Okafor selected No. 3 overall in 2015
With the NBA draft right around the corner, now is the time to look at some past drafts and see what the Philadelphia 76ers have done in their history. The Sixers have selected some big-time players in the past who have become an important part of the fabric of the franchise's history. This edition focuses on the 2015 draft as the Sixers held the No. 3 pick as they looked to move forward. With that selection, Philadelphia took Duke big man Jahlil Okafor as there was not a Joel Embiid showing just yet. Advertisement Okafor was very good as a rookie as he averaged 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds on a Sixers team that went 10-72. He finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting and was able to show a lot of production and promise on the floor. Overall, he played 105 games across three seasons in Philadelphia before being sent to the Brooklyn Nets early in 2017-18 with the emergence of Embiid. Okafor played 26 games for the Nets before playing three years for the New Orleans Pelicans and a season with the Detroit Pistons in 2020-21. He was out of the league for three years before playing a game for the Indiana Pacers in the 2024-25 season. This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers draft history: Jahlil Okafor selected No. 3 overall in 2015
