Mark Daigneault Wants the Thunder to Be An 'Ever-Evolving, Problem Solving' Group

The Thunder's offense has continued to evolve over the years and is only getting better.

It took patience during the rebuild, but Oklahoma City's offense looks like it is peaking with the pieces in place.

This is something the Thunder has worked on for years, building an identity with every player on the court. Even before Chet Holmgren stepped on the floor, Oklahoma City had undersized shooting centers and played a five-out dribble drive system.

The identity was built early on and easily adaptable for any new player the Thunder added along the way. The results have been promising and the team is reaping the benefits of that patient system.

Mark Daigneault on where the Thunder’s style of play on offense comes from

“It wasn’t something we drew up in a napkin” pic.twitter.com/HIt2tHBgrr

— Andrew Schlecht (@AndrewKSchlecht) January 14, 2024

“You don’t know who’s gonna be on the team when you start, so it’s really how do you maximize what you have," head coach Mark Daigneault said. "And everything we’re doing now has evolved to this point.

“The cutting is something — we had players that they weren’t guarding and just loading up on Shai. It’s like ‘Okay, where do we space them.’ We learn different things from that, we learn the cutting triggers. The guard-to-guard stuff was born out of having shooting fives, undersized fives, and non-fives playing the five. Step by step, we’ve run into a hurdle and figured out a way to solve it.”

Oklahoma City ranks third in the NBA in points per game at 122.5, second in field goal percentage at 50.7% and second in 3-point percentage at 39.2%. The Thunder commits the fourth fewest turnovers in the NBA and shoots 83.8% from the free throw line, the second-best mark in the NBA. The offensive system has been essentially unguardable, and the rest of the NBA is still looking for answers.

This was always Oklahoma City's plan, though. Now they have the right pieces of the puzzle to execute it. Of course, it's all centered around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but everyone else clearly knows their role now. 

“The stuff that’s good we keep and cultivate. It just becomes your system. A year from now, our system’s gonna look different. We want to be an ever-evolving, problem-solving group of players and coaches. It wasn’t like something we drew up on a napkin."

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