OKC Thunder: 7 head coach candidates with ties to franchise

David Vanterpool – spent time in OKC as director of player personnel

A current assistant coach getting consideration from clubs is David Vanterpool who is serving on Terry Stotts staff with the Blazers.

Vanterpool played his college ball with St. Bonaventure University. When the shooting guard-small forward wasn’t drafted by the NBA he headed overseas where he spent the majority of his professional career in China, Italy, and Moscow although he made a brief appearance in Washington playing in 22 games for the Wizards.

His coaching career began with the last team he played professionally with, as he joined the CSKA Moscow as an assistant coach for three seasons. He returned to America in 2010 when the OKC Thunder hired him as the director of player personnel.

In 2013 the Blazers hired him as an assistant where he remained for six seasons until moving to Minnesota to join Ryan Saunders staff as an assistant this past season. He’s known for his work developing Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum and was brought to Minnesota to help add culture and develop the myriad of youngsters on the Wolves.

Although Vanterpool never sat on the Thunder bench he’s very familiar with the way things work in OKC and with how Sam Presti likes to conduct business.