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OKC Thunder Head Coach Dishes on NBA Officials Point of Emphasis

The NBA officials put out the new points of emphasis for the 2026-27 campaign. Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault gave his thoughts on that report.
Rylan Stiles|
Sep 28, 2026; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault poses for a photo during Oklahoma City Thunder Media Day at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Sep 28, 2026; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault poses for a photo during Oklahoma City Thunder Media Day at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Every year, the NBA officials announce new points of emphasis that they will be watching out for throughout the upcoming season. Often times, it is trends that they allowed to get a bit loose from the year past, an area that fans have complained and sometimes just a refresher of what the rulebook has to say about certain basketball plays.

Often times, these are heavily stressed this time of year, strictly called in the first segment of the season and by the turn of the New Year are forgotten about as games go back to being called the way they always have. Recently, the league has even seen the All-Star break as a time to sharpen areas of emphasis.

This week, as team's enter training camp, the NBA Officials released breakdown videos of the calls and plays they will be heavily monitoring throughout the season. This is a great thing for both fans to have an understanding of exactly the rules and criteria to call it and also gives the teams time to adjust. Every team is in the midst of training camp and throughout this preseason portion of the schedule will be bringing in game officials to practices to be able to learn hands-on.

Below are the league's statements and links to their video footage of these points of emphasis.

"See below for Part 2 of the 2026-27 Points of Emphasis video (narrated by SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training Monty McCutchen), which provides examples and guidance regarding Freedom of Movement – Perimeter & Post and Straight-Line Pathway Plays," The NBA Officials posted on Social Media.

"See below for Part 1 of the 2026-27 Areas of Focus video (narrated by SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training Monty McCutchen), which provides examples and guidance regarding Flopping and Closeouts on Jump Shots – Landing Space," the NBA Officials posted on social media.

"See below for Part 2 of the 2026-27 Areas of Focus video (narrated by SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training Monty McCutchen), which provides examples and guidance regarding Game Administration," The NBA Officials posted on social media.

During Day two of Thunder training camp, Oklahoma City bench boss Mark Daigneault was asked his thoughts on the league's new areas of focus on the hardwood.

"Well they've come up with a term, there is like the four F's. Just like the pathway plays a couple of years ago, they have tried to create a lot of clarity around a part of the game that tends to be subjective without that clarity," Daigneault explained. "As long as they enforce it fairly, and consistently, we are a team that plays very well on defense. We think it creates some defensive balance, so we welcome anything that loosens some things up for the defense."

The big area that Daigneault harped on was ensuring his only request is the league calling it fairly and consistently and if they do, the Thunder will "Adjust to whatever the rules are," the Thunder head coach said.

Oklahoma City's championship head coach made an interesting point regarding the two areas of focus –– push offs and flopping –– being largely tied together.

"The flopping is going to be very closely tied to the push offs. If defensive players know that push offs are a point of emphasis then they might be flailing to try to bait those calls. It will be interesting to see how those two have an interplay together," Daigneault explained.

The Thunder bench boss reminded the media that every year the league puts out these state of the union like addresses and each season the coaching staff prepares the players on it.

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Rylan Stiles
RYLAN STILES

Rylan Stiles is a credentialed media member covering the Oklahoma City Thunder. He hosts the Locked On Thunder Podcast, and is Lead Beat Writer for Inside the Thunder. Rylan is also an award-winning play-by-play broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network. 

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