The OKC Thunder are widely celebrated as being a team capable of successfully implementing a plug-and-play rotation. NBA legend Lou Williams perfectly summed up their elite ability to run such a scheme by saying that "everybody they plug in can play."
However, while the club's enviably deep talent pool gets the lion's share of attention for why Oklahoma City can flourish with such an approach to its in-game lineups, Chet Holmgren recently shed light on who he believes ultimately deserves credit.
Mark Daigneault.
Thunder coach true mastermind behind plug-and-play success
Following Tuesday's blowout win over the Golden State Warriors, Holmgren was asked by reporters how the Thunder are capable of sustaining such a top-flight level of play even with key contributors like Aaron Wiggins(Adductor strain), Lu Dort (Trap strain), and Jalen Williams (Wrist recovery) all out.
In response, the big man acknowledged that Daigneault's ability to fit "puzzle pieces together that might not normally fit" is what he believes to be the main contributing factor.
Even with OKC's several injury-induced absences, they still found themselves rolling out 10 people for 15 or more minutes against the Warriors while seeing five separate players record double-digit scoring efforts.
Without question, Daigneault's expertise has played a major role in this club not missing a single beat with the constant shakeups to on-court personnel.
His ability to develop and hone the skills of players dates back to his time down in the G League, where he served as head coach of the OKC Blue from 2014 through 2019.
Since 2020, he has been headman of the Thunder, where, with every passing season, they've steadily improved both on the stat sheet and in the record books.
Daigneault has coached every iteration of a team throughout his tenure with the Thunder -- from a rebuilding and, then, on the rise squad to a literal NBA Champion, the man has seen it all.
With his efforts holding the clipboard, Daigneault was crowned NBA Coach of the Year during the 2023-24 season (where Oklahoma City went 57-25) and, just last season, finished forth in the same race after the team rattled off the fourth-most wins in league history (68) while seeing a whopping 30 different starting lineups along the way.
Of course, in order to achieve this level of success, it obviously takes more than just one individual. Holmgren made sure to acknowledge this in his presser when he said that "from top down in the organization, the credit goes to the guys who built this."
However, without the right coach leading the charge, OKC would merely be a team with a deep depth chart and no true strategist to properly utilize their overflowing talent -- remember the Scott Brooks era, anyone?
Fortunately, this Thunder club has nothing to worry about on this front, thanks to the fact that they have Mark Daigneault calling the shots.