OKC Thunder to split 2025 Summer League coach duties to 2 assistants
With Summer League around the corner, the Oklahoma City Thunder will get a chance to see some fresh faces less than a month after they won the NBA championship. No sentence better exemplifies how around-the-clock the league can get.
The Thunder introduced Thomas Sorber and Brooks Barnhizer. They were the NBA champions' sole draft picks at No. 15 and No. 44, respectively. Mark Daigneault also revealed who will coach Summer League this year. Per usual, OKC will play at Salt Lake City and Las Vegas from July 5-20 with at least eight games on the docket.
Daigneault said Thunder assistant Daniel Dixon will coach the Utah portion of the schedule. He also said Thunder assistant Connor Johnson will coach the Las Vegas portion of the schedule. The full Summer League schedule can be viewed here.
Dixon will enter his fourth season with the Thunder as an assistant coach. He was the Las Vegas Summer League coach last year. He played college basketball at Williams & Mary. Meanwhile, Johnson will enter his sixth season with the Thunder. He was previously the Philadelphia 76ers' G League coach.
The Thunder have put their assistant coaches under different descriptions from time to time. Daigneault's coaching experience stems from his long tenure as the G League's OKC Blue head coach before he was a Thunder assistant for one season.
This gives Dixon and Johnson a chance to get head coach reps in a low-stress NBA environment. The Thunder have had one of the best developmental programs over the years. That helped them reach an NBA championship this past week.
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