Mark Daigneault Not Concerned With Perceived Disadvantages of Top Seed

The Oklahoma City Thunder could grab the top seed in the Western Conference and Mark Daigneault is not at all concerned with potential scouting disadvantage.

Apr 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault watches / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder head into the final day of the regular season still in the hunt for the top seed in the wild Western Conference. While being the top seed would be quite the achievement with the introduction of the NBA Play-In Tournament, the first seed presents some perceived disadvantages.

While most NBA playoff teams can begin round one preparation Sunday night, burning the midnight oil, the top seeds in each conference have to wait until Friday to definitively know their first-round matchup.

This cuts into preparation time in terms of implementing strategies, as the coaching staff will presumably divide and conquer their four possible playoff matchups. Mark Daigneault was asked about this possible outcome ahead of Sunday's tilt with Dallas.

"It is what it is," The Thunder bench boss said citing the disadvantage the future No. 8 seed faces in playing two high-stakes postseason games for the right to snag a playoff spot and play Game 1 of their series after just one day off.

Mark Daigneault on the possibility of not knowing the playoff opponent after todays game “it is what it is” mentioned it’s not an advantage or disadvantage pic.twitter.com/3Wxh2jEZ9U

— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) April 14, 2024

When asked a fall up about the scouting difficulties, Daigneault pointed to the fact there are only 30 teams in the NBA with each team having a pretty strong book on each other and no one starting from ground zero in their preparation which makes life easier for the coaching staff.

Depending on how the final day of the regular season shakes out, Daigneault's squad could go from the play-in tournament a year ago as the No. 10 seed, to waiting for the play-in to conclude to know their first round playoff matchup.

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