Often, when a team's roster is as stacked as the OKC Thunder, the head coach appears to get overlooked. Whether it's Pat Riley with the Showtime Lakers or Erik Spoelstra from his time spearheading the Big Three Miami Heat, it seems that the headman is thrown by the wayside in favor of the club's star athletes when it comes to credit for success.
However, during this first month of action in 2025-26, it has become increasingly difficult to write off Mark Daigneault's sideline mastery as anything other than extraordinary.
In fact, The Athletic's Sam Vecenie believes his efforts have been so sensational that, after just 18 games played, he feels the 40-year-old should already be crowned as the Coach of the Year.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault already being endorsed for COY
During a recent edition of the Game Theory Podcast, Vecenie was found gushing over Daigneault's ability to orchestrate this league-best, 17-1 Thunder team despite having a depth chart at sub full strength and, more specifically, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander serving as their lone All-Star representative.
"They have a net rating six points better than everybody else, and they have one All-Star on the court. They have one All-Star. All due respect to Chet, he's not made that status yet; maybe that changes this year. As good as Shai is, and Shai is unbelievable, he's one of the three best players in the league... you would not expect this team to win 16 of 17 games," Vecenie said.
Since this episode dropped, the cases Vecenie laid out have somehow managed to get even stronger, as they've now improved their record to 17-1 following Sunday's win over the Portland Trail Blazers (the team that handed them their lone loss on the year), while the net rating gap between them and the second-ranked Rockers has increased to +6.5.
On its own, these metrics would be otherworldly impressive. However, when considering they've managed to be this dominant without All-NBA forward, Jalen Williams, in the mix (still sidelined from offseason wrist surgery), this kind of on-court production becomes all the more stunning.
Since Daigneault took over as head coach in 2020, the Thunder have consistently improved each year.
From winning 22 games in his first season to, just last year, guiding the team to the fourth-best record in league history (68-14) and the franchise's first NBA Championship of the Sooner State era, it's more than evident that Daigneault has been a sensational leader for the ball club.
Now, in year six, he has this Thunder team off to the 10-best start in league history, on pace to win 70 or more games, and, arguably, en route to being considered the most dominant two-way team the game has ever seen.
With all this in mind, Vecenie is convinced that Daigneault is the clear front-runner to earn the second NBA Coach of the Year award of his ever-improving NBA tenure.
All things considered, it's hard to argue against such a notion.