Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault was named to guide one of the four teams in the Feb. 16 All-Star Game at San Francisco.
Daigneault earned his first All-Star Game head coaching nod after the Thunder clinched the best record in the Western Conference through games of Feb. 2. They improved to 35-7 with a 127-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
In five seasons as head coach of the Thunder, Daigneault is 177-182, while guiding his team into the playoffs last season. He is the first Oklahoma City head coach to earn the honor since Scott Brooks in the 2013-14 season.
The nod for Daigneault also assures that one Thunder assistant coach will be the head coach of another of the four NBA All-Star teams. The head coach and an assistant from the Eastern Conference squad with the best record through Feb. 2 will coach the other two teams.
The NBA adopted a new one-night All-Star Game tournament this season with three teams comprised of eight All-Stars drafted to teams by former NBA players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal of “Inside the NBA.”
The winner of the Rising Stars challenge competition between first- and second-year players will be the fourth team in the All-Star Game tournament.
Last year’s All-Star Game was widely ridiculed despite reverting back to the traditional East-West matchup from a “captain’s draft,” with the fan-vote leaders from each conference drafting two teams.
Tournament games will be decided by the first team to reach 40 points.
