Could OKC Thunder Staff Draw Head Coaching Interest After Title?

The Oklahoma City Thunder are on top of the basketball world after winning the NBA Finals and resigning the team's star trio in the same summer.

OKC won 68 games during the regular season, setting records along the way to the franchise's first championship since moving to the Modern Frontier. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won MVP and Finals MVP awards while Jalen Williams earned his first All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defense nods to go along with Lu Dort's First-Team All-Defense honors.

The Thunder won 57 games in 2023-24 and earned the top seed in the Western Conference as Oklahoma City head coach Mark Diagneault earned Coach of the Year recognition.

With so much success, though, there is a chance that other teams around the league may try to interview OKC's assistants in a future coaching search. Of course, all 30 teams have their head coach for the upcoming season, but after the next round of coaching changes, one of the Thunder's assistants could pique the interest of another front office, especially if OKC has another strong season.

Oklahoma City has eight assistant coaches outside of Chip Engelland, who is the team's shooting coach.

Assistant coach Eric Maynor played for OKC from 2009-13 before taking over as an OKC Blue assistant from 2019-2021. In 2021, Maynor was promoted to Thunder assistant coach.

Fellow assistant Grant Gibbs played at Gonzaga and Creighton in college before spending a few years overseas. After his playing career came to an end, Gibbs took over as an OKC Blue assistant from 2017-19.

When Daigneault was promoted from Blue head coach to the same position with the Thunder, Gibbs took over Daigneault's old role from 2019-22. Since 2022, Gibbs has been an assistant on the Thunder's staff.

Connor Johnson, the team's Assistant Coach for Player Development, was a graduate assistant at Villanova from 2012-14. Following his time with the Wildcats, Johnson worked for the Philadelphia 76ers from 2014-18.

Johnson served as the Delaware Blue Coats head coach from 2018-21, before taking a job as a Thunder assistant in 2021. Johnson is currently Oklahoma City's 2025 Las Vegas Summer League coach.

Daniel Dixon played at William & Mary before spending time in the G Leauge and overseas before joining the OKC Blue as assistant from 2022-24. Dixon was promoted to Thunder assistant in 2024, and was the team's coach for the 2024 Las Vegas Summer League and 2025 Salt Lake City Summer League.

Kameron Woods starred at Butler before playing for the OKC Blue from 2015-17. Woods then worked as an assistant coach for the team from 2018-20 before being promoted to a Thunder assistant in 2020. In 2022, Woods took over Diagneault and Gibbs' former post as the Blue's head coach.

Woods coached his team to a G League title in 2024 and coached Oklahoma City's Salt Lake City Summer League team the same year.

Dave Bliss played at Georgia and was a graduate assistant at VCU from 2009-10 before joining the OKC as an assistant 2010-15. Bliss left the Thunder and worked with the New York Knicks from 2015-18, but returned to the Thunder as an assistant in 2018.

Mike Wilks played 64 games with Seattle and four games with OKC in his NBA career and has been a Thunder assistant since 2019. Wilks' son, Isaiah, is a talented high school basketball player at Millwood High School in Oklahoma City.

Isaiah Wilks, who has received multiple Division I scholarship offers on the hardwood, helped his team to a state title in 2025.

David Akinyooye played college basketball at Adelphi, then spent time with the Knicks 2012-13, the Spurs from 2013-14, and French club ASVEL Basket from 2014-15. In 2015, Akinyooye joined the OKC Blue as an assistant, before being promoted to Thunder assistant in 2019.

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