Mark Daigneault's hometown always believed in Thunder coach, long before NBA Finals run
Steve Dubzinski is often asked a variation of the same question: Did you ever see Mark Daigneault becoming this?
The 'this' part of that prompt has only gotten more unbelievable with time. Did Dubzinski, Daigneault's high school basketball coach in Leominster, Massachusetts, ever see Daigneault becoming an NBA head coach? Coaching in the All-Star Game?? In the NBA Finals???
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'I knew he was gonna be successful, and he wanted to coach,' Dubzinski told The Oklahoman. 'Where that journey was going to end? I don't know. Could you have predicted an NBA Finals? Probably not.'
Dubzinski was asked The Question by a Boston-area TV station recently. And before he knew it, the wise-cracking former coach, now a Massachusetts high school sports administrator, had talked himself into an analogy that put Daigneault in rather lofty company.
'I don't think people had Leo in English class as a sophomore and said, 'Oh, that young man's gonna be the pope.' Or Barack Obama in sixth grade art class and say, 'He's gonna be the president.''
Dubzinski had to stop himself.
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'It's good that I just threw Coach Daigneault in the same category as the president and the pope,' Dubzinski said with a laugh.
Daigneault hasn't quite reached world leader status, but he and the Thunder are four wins away from becoming world champs. And back in Daigneault's hometown of Leominster — 1,700 miles from Oklahoma City — that's a pretty big deal.
The Daigneault family is beloved in the town of 44,000 just west of Boston. It's Celtics country, but given the Thunder's ties to the area with Daigneault, Sam Presti and assistant GM Rob Hennigan, there's a proud pocket of Thunder orange and blue in the Bay State.
MUSSATTO: How original Paul George trade between Thunder, Pacers created unlikely NBA Finals
Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault talks with players during Game 2 of the NBA playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. Oklahoma City won 149-106.
Mark Daigneault's Leominster, Massachusetts, roots
Mark Daigneault is an old soul. Anybody who's known him will confirm. It's as true of Daigneault at age 40 as it was when he was 14.
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'Perfect way to put it,' said Billy McEvoy, who met Daigneault in fourth grade. 'He would take a ribbing from his group of friends for that.'
'Let loose,' they would tell Daigneault.
But Daigneault, even as a kid, was always the adult in the room.
'He was the captain of our high school basketball team for the qualities you look for in a captain — he was a leader, he led by example,' McEvoy said. 'Not even just in sports. I have kids now, and you want your kids to be friends with someone like Mark Daigneault.'
Dubzinski described Daigneault as a 'cerebral' player who 'got the most out of his athletic ability.'
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In other words, a good high school basketball player who maybe could've played small-college ball, but who was destined to coach.
Daigneault was a shooter, 'make no mistake about it,' Dubzinski said. And a charge-taker that would make Jaylin Williams proud.
'I'm not surprised they're as good as they are defensively because Mark defended,' Dubzinski said. 'He was the master at taking the charge. It was before the flop, so maybe that played a little bit into it, frankly. But he could sell it.'
More: What impresses OKC Thunder coach Mark Daigneault most about Pacers, NBA Finals foe?
Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) talks with head coach Mark Daigneault during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA playoff series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Monday, May, 5, 2025.
Daigneault leads the No. 1 defense in the NBA — a juggernaut of a unit that's hard-wired for freneticism. The Thunder's offense is buoyed by the league's MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose coolness is contrasted by Daigneault's everymaness.
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'He hasn't changed who he is as a person despite the enormous success that he's had,' McEvoy said. 'I love that about him.'
After five years as head coach of the G League Oklahoma City Blue and one season as a Thunder assistant under Billy Donovan — one of Daigneault's many mentors — Daigneault was elevated to Thunder head coach prior to the 2020-21 season.
Having navigated the Thunder through its rebuild with a development-first approach, the implementer of Presti's plan, Daigneault is now leading the most dominant squad in basketball. The Thunder set an NBA record for average margin of victory en route to a 68-win season.
Now Daigneault, in Year 5, is opposite Rick Carlisle, dean of the college of coaches, in the NBA Finals.
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'He's been very good to me as I've come up here,' Daigneault said. 'Couldn't have more respect for him.'
No one is questioning the coaching chops on either sideline, but Daigneault's team is stocked with more talent. OKC is an overwhelming favorite to win the title and raise the franchise's first title banner since relocating to the plains in 2008.
'It's obviously a great opportunity for all of us,' Daigneault said. 'Everybody that gets to participate in the NBA Finals, it's something to be grateful for. And one of the cool things is you get to share it with the people you care about and the people that care about you.'
Like the people who knew Mark Daigneault back in his Leominster days, when they knew what he wanted to be, but not how far it would take him.
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'He was born,' McEvoy said, 'to be a coach.'
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com . Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com .
More: NBA Finals 2025: From Loud City to Pacers Nation, get to know OKC and Indianapolis
NBA Finals Game 1: Thunder vs. Pacers
TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Paycom Center in OKC (ABC)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has support of Massachusetts hometown
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