NBA Betting: Thunder HC Mark Daigneault is Lone Favorite to Win Coach of the Year

The Oklahoma City Thunder is going to have multiple awards to watch for when the season comes to a close. Of course, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is in the running for the Most Valuable Player award and Chet Holmgren could be in the running for both Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

Gilgeous-Alexander has +300 odds to win the MVP award, closely trailing Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic. Holmgren is the favorite to win Rookie of the Year with -140 odds and is +800 -- the second-best odds -- to win Defensive Player of the Year.

Still, the players won't be the only ones in the running for awards at the end of the year. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is the favorite to win Coach of the Year. He was the runner-up a season ago to Mike Brown. Evidently, a 40-42 record wasn't enough to get it done, but a 16-win jump garnered the Thunder coach plenty of respect.

Now, the Thunder is one of the premier teams in the Western Conference. This, on top of the respect Daigneault earned last season, is a big boost to his case to win the award.

Currently, the Thunder stands at 28-13 on the season, which is good for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. They've shown capabilities to beat very, very solid teams while stacking together big games.

With the play style that the Thunder has, they stand out from a scheme standpoint, which is another reason Daigneault is the favorite to win the award. He's helped this young team take a leap from an up-and-coming squad to keep an eye on in a few years to a true threat in the Western Conference with a ceiling to be determined by themselves this spring.

Of course, the Thunder will have to continue on its current trend for these players and Daigneault to remain in the running for the awards they are all capable of winning.

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