Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault won the 2023-24 NBA Coach of the Year award by a landslide vote - though not everyone believes he was deserving of the accolade.
On Sunday, Daigneault secured 89 of the possible 99 first-place votes from media members, blowing past the Magic’s Jamahl Mosley and the Timberwolves’ Chris Finch, who placed second and third, respectively. The 39-year-old was additionally voted COTY by fellow coaches in the league.
In his fourth season with Oklahoma City, Daigneault steered the Thunder to a 57-25 record and playoff berth - their first trip to the postseason since 2020. By securing the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, Daigneault’s team became the youngest in NBA history to earn a top seed in either conference.
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“I've used the word uncommon with this team all year, and the reason I think they're so uncommon is they have incredible ambition,” Daigneault said during an appearance on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” “They care about their individual careers, they work hard individually, but they also really appreciate each other's success and they root for each other, they're behind each other and we've done everything together all year.”
Despite the Thunder’s incredible accomplishments this season, the Timberwolves believed Finch was more deserving of the award. Taking to X, Minnesota’s social team shared a photo of point guard Mike Conley Jr. wearing a sweatshirt that featured several headshots of the 54-year-old coach with the words “Finchy” and “That’s my dawg.” As if their opinion on the matter wasn’t obvious enough, they also captioned the image: “s/o to our Coach of the Year.”
Fans online swiftly accused the Timberwolves of being jealous of the Thunder and ripping them off. One X user shared an old picture of Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams donning a shirt with Daigneault’s name and image along with the comment: “Barking and wearing a shirt with pics of his coach? You don’t say? Feels like I’ve seen this before. But where?”
Others took issue with the Timberwolves’ use of the word “dawg.” The Thunder have made it a tradition this season to bark like dogs during on-court post-game interviews, prompting some to believe that Minnesota was attempting to adopt the practice for themselves. “They really trying to take the ‘Dawg’ term as their own…” a fan of Oklahoma City wrote.
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Unfortunately for the Timberwolves, they may be without Finch for the foreseeable future. During Minnesota’s Game 4 win over the Phoenix Suns, Conley collided with his coach after being bumped out of play by Devin Booker. After spending several minutes down on the court, Finch was helped to his feet and escorted to the locker room.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski , Finch is set to undergo surgery to repair a right patellar tendon on Wednesday. It remains to be seen if he will be ready in time for Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals series against the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
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