Mark Daigneault, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s head coach, was selected the NBA Coach of the Year for 2024, the league announced on Sunday.
Daigneault, in his fourth season as Thunder head coach, got the award for the first time, becoming the second Oklahoma City coach to do so since Scott Brooks in 2010.
The 39-year-old American led the Thunder to a 57-25 regular-season record and the first seed in the Western Conference for the NBA playoffs.
The Thunder became the NBA’s youngest team, as defined by playing time, to finish with the best record in a conference since the 1970-71 season, the first with Eastern and Western Conferences.
Oklahoma City improved by 17 victories from the 40-42 record of the 2022-23 season, making the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
The Thunder had not won a playoff series since 2016, but as of Sunday, they owned a 3-0 lead over the New Orleans Pelicans in their best-of-seven first-round series.
Daigneault worked as a collegiate assistant coach at Holy Cross and Florida before joining Oklahoma City’s G-League development squad, where he coached for five years before becoming an assistant coach for the Thunder in 2019-20 season.
Daigneault was named the club’s head coach in November 2020, succeeding Billy Donovan. He has a 143-175 record in the previous four seasons. The team’s record has become better with each season under Daigneault.