OKC Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault will not travel on upcoming road trip

Fresh off a win to wrap up the homestand against the Houston Rockets, pushing the OKC Thunder to a 6-8 record, good enough for tenth in the Western Conference, the Thunder will hit the road again and battle adversity. While winning six of their last ten contest, on a one-game winning streak, and attempting to right their wrongs on the road turning in a 2-4 record away from the Paycom Center, the Oklahoma City Thunder will be without their head coach on this trip.

The OKC Thunder will travel to take on the defending champions the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night before a quick turnaround Saturday night in Boston against the Celtics. Each team is off to a sluggish 7-8 record, turning in four, and five wins in their last ten meetings but are expected to compete in the Eastern Conference. For the Bucks, they are still tabbed as NBA Title Contenders, and for the Celtics, it would be a bit stunning to see them miss the playoffs.

The Thunder have already seen what the Bucks are capable of after the two teams met in the preseason on National Television. The Bucks beat down OKC posting a 130-110 exhibition victory that rang through the NBA enough that prognosticators like John Hollinger tabbed the Thunder for 13 wins after that poor showing. Oklahoma City is a completely different team than that early October night and playing some of their best basketball.

OKC Thunder without Mark Daigneault for this weekend road trip

The Oklahoma City Thunder will miss their head coach Mark Daigneault this weekend against the Bucks and Celtics. The Thunder bench boss will stay back in OKC and be with his wife, Ashley, as they expect their child to be born any time now.

Mark Daigneault led off post-practice media availability with this news, and we could all see the smile on his face. He reiterated that the OKC Thunder organization is family first, and General Manager Sam Presti as well as the board of Governor Clay Bennett are fully on board with this plan.

In the second-year head coach’s absence, Dave Bliss will take over for this road swing. Bliss, in his third season with the OKC Thunder varsity staff, ninth with the organization overall will be coaching in his home state of Milwaukee on Friday.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about Daigneault being gone this weekend and said “I do not think the team will need me to be more of a leader, but it will be different at first without him.” SGA went on to say, the team does not have a “designated ceiling, we can be as good as we want to be.” It is safe to say, the team will be in good hands this weekend with the max contract point guard and will continue to compete as they have all season.

Mark Daigneault also gave an update on Tre Mann, who left Wednesday’s game with an ankle injury, by saying he is “day-to-day” and “not to be surprised if [Tre Mann] reconnects to the OKC Blue soon.”