Thunder coach Mark Daigneault drops intricate prediction ahead of NBA opening day

Expectations are through the roof for this OKC Thunder team heading into the 2024-25 NBA season.

Penciled in by the odds-makers as having the second-best chance of taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy come year's end, all eyes are seemingly on Oklahoma City and how they'll be able to up their play from their 2023-24 run that saw them finish as the top-seed out West and embark on their first deep playoff run in nearly a decade.

To many, the way in which they can manage to accomplish such a feat is by leaning on their star core trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams as well as the strengths of their elite supporting cast consisting of Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, among several others.

However, as is the case with every championship hopeful, there will be external forces playing a role in the club's on-court execution and success rate moving forward.

Fortunately for them, coach Mark Daigneault seems to believe that one of these outside factors could very well end up being on their side entering the campaign.

Mark Daigneault's prediction on officiating could benefit OKC Thunder

During the afternoon hours of Tuesday's official opening day for the NBA regular season, coach Daigneault took part in a post-practice media session where, during his minutes-long participation, provided a rather interesting take on how he believes games will be officiated to kick off the new campaign.

Per OKC Thunder Wire's Clemente Almanza, the fifth-year headman noted he's under the impression that the league's officiating team will call games similarly to how they were after last year's All-Star break, a style he seems to have greatly enjoyed.

"We liked the physicality they allowed," Daigneault said

The way in which referees handled post-All-Star break play seemed to benefit the Thunder in a multitude of ways, as they wound up accumulating 35.1 percent of their 57 total wins on the season during this final 28-game stretch.

Along the way, the ball club found itself ranking towards the top of the association in a plethora of notable statistical categories, including placing fourth in points per game (118.7), fifth in field goal percentage (49.6), fourth in defensive rating (109.3), and third in net rating (109.3).

What's more important is that this high-end productivity in the stats department also managed to lead toward great successes in the win-loss column, as they went 20-8 after returning from the All-Star break, which measured in as the third-best mark in the entire league.

With all this in mind, the Thunder should be more than happy to see officiating of the same ilk during what many believe could be a championship-winning season.