With a dominant victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault secured his place at 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco. While the spotlight for February’s yearly event often shines brightest on the players, Daigneault’s achievement as one of the weekend’s head coaches is a well-deserved recognition of his ability to lead his team to wins. He won NBA Coach of the Year in the 2023-24 campaign, but will now add a new accolade to his resume.

“An honor. A huge thank you to all the people that are behind the scenes in the organization that work with the players, not only this season but in previous seasons. This has been a build, and a lot of people have their fingerprints on that,” Daigneault said following him officially becoming a coach for that weekend.

This is Daigneault’s first selection as an NBA All-Star coach, making him the first Thunder head coach to earn the honor since Scott Brooks did so during the 2013-14 season. Adding to the Thunder’s presence at the event, one of Daigneault’s assistant coaches will also lead a team in the weekend’s newly designed format, which will only further highlight the depth of the coaching staff in OKC.

The All-Star coaching positions are awarded to the teams with the best records in each conference as of Feb. 2, just two weeks before the game itself. With a Western Conference leading 35-7 record, the Thunder comfortably claimed this distinction despite that date being in the future, holding a 6.5-game advantage over the second-seeded Houston Rockets.

This year’s All-Star Game will introduce an innovative format, which includes a four-team mini-tournament played over three games. The two semifinal matchups (Games 1 and 2) will determine the championship participants (Game 3), with each game ending when a team scores 40 points. A $1.8 million prize pool is at stake, with players on the winning team receiving $125,000 each. The runners-up will earn $50,000 per player, while participants from the third- and fourth-place teams will collect $25,000 each.

Daigneault may have the chance to coach Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the event — or potentially face him, depending on how the teams are drafted. Other Thunder players like Jalen Williams and sophomore standout Cason Wallace could also make an impact in the All-Star Game, further showcasing Oklahoma City’s talented roster with an opportunity to play for or against Daigneault. Williams would need to be voted in as a reserve, while Wallace would have to earn a spot on the Rising Stars roster then win that tournament to play on the fourth All-Star team in the new format.

Daigneault’s selection underscores the Thunder’s exceptional season and just how great of a coach he is in this league. Under his guidance, Oklahoma City has emerged as a dominant force in the Western Conference, combining a deep lineup with an unorthodox, yet effective approach to the game. NBA All-Star Weekend offers a stage to celebrate the Thunder’s success and solidifies their reputation as one of the league’s most dynamic and exciting teams.

The Thunder’s eyes are set on a much bigger prize, with an NBA Championship being very much something the team has the talent to earn. In the meantime, honors like this act as the rewards along the way to recognize the tremendous success Oklahoma City has seen.