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Justin Martinez: Asked Mark Daigneault about the impact of getting Isaiah Hartenstein back tonight: "It's the point-of-attack defense. It's the pick-and-roll defense. It's what he does for our rebounding. He's an elite offensive rebounder, an elite screener, a great pocket passer and an above-the-rim finisher on the rolls. He obviously brings a lot of stuff to the table for us and kind of expands our optionality as a team, so we welcome him back. We're certainly thrilled to have him back."
Justin Martinez: Asked Mark Daigneault about Ajay Mitchell being named a Rising Star: “I’m really happy for him. He would’ve been on that game last year had he not gotten hurt. He was certainly on that trajectory. … For him to be acknowledged in that way, we’re incredibly happy for him. He’s a great team guy and a hard worker. He’s doing all of the right things from a program standpoint.”
Asked Mark Daigneault about Ajay Mitchell being named a Rising Star:
— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) January 27, 2026
“I’m really happy for him. He would’ve been on that game last year had he not gotten hurt. He was certainly on that trajectory. … For him to be acknowledged in that way, we’re incredibly happy for him. He’s a… pic.twitter.com/m5JMVrhP1b
Justin Martinez: Mark Daigneault on OKC losing a second straight one-possession game: “They obviously made some shots and some plays. We didn’t. … We found ourselves in that situation the last couple of nights. We’ve done a decent job of trying to give ourselves a chance to win. It hasn’t gone our way, but that still doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it.”
And now, it’s Holmgren’s call to decide the coverage — not every possession but every once in a while. “He’s developed very, very high-level tactical instincts to go with his technical instincts that he already had when he came in,” Daigneault told The Athletic.
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For what it’s worth, Daigneault disagrees with Holmgren’s tone while analyzing this play, insisting that while Holmgren may not have called out his actions as he could have in a perfect world, he would never call the center out on it. “What I would say to him is, ‘You put out plenty of fires for the rest of the team, so if they have to put out a fire for you once in a while, that’s OK,’ ” Daigneault said. “As a general framework, we wanna be a team that fails aggressively. If we’re gonna have a bad possession, it’s because we’re overaggressive rather than passive, because the upside of the aggression is higher. The cost-benefit of that will net out for us.”
Justin Martinez: Asked Mark Daigneault what has impressed him about OKC’s response to its recent rough stretch: “It’s not really a response. We’re just trying to be as consistent as we can, possession by possession. It’s an 82-game season. We know there’s going to be ups and downs. We know there’s going to be challenges along the way. Our job is to be as consistent as possible when those come up.”
Brandon Rahbar: Mark Daigneault on Chet Holmgren: “His best fundamental is winning. Daigneault said Chet’s boxscore may not have been loud but his defense at the rim and his spacing on offense were big factors. Chet had 8 PTS/10 REB/3 BLK tonight.
"He's the man," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of Horford. "We had all of these young players and it was during Covid, so the season started in December. We had all of these trades right before the season. It was just a very disruptive environment in a lot of ways. A cynical person could've found a lot of things to complain about, and he was never cynical. Ever. He was always focused on solutions. He's about as respected of a teammate and a person to coach as you could find."
"It was a critical point in my career," Horford told The Oklahoman. "I think that being there, learning and getting to understand how this NBA was going to go (was important). Coach Daigneault, this was kind of the vision he was seeing even then. And they started to implement it, so I was able to see it firsthand."
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But it still fought back against the Grizzlies, scraping and clawing for every bucket and board it could get. Even when it trailed by 21 points in the third quarter. And it ultimately escaped with a 117-116 win that was sealed by Alex Caruso, who blocked Cedric Coward's 13-footer in the closing seconds. Jalen Williams finished with season highs of 26 points and 10 assists in the win. It's a massive victory for the Thunder (32-7), which had gone 7-6 in its last 13 games. "That was great resilience by the team," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. "There were so many moments where we were trying to break through and something would happen that would put the wind in our face again, and yet the team just kept competing. ... To just continue to keep competing like that in the middle of the dog days of the regular season just shows the competitive nature of the team."
Brandon Miller had already taken the air out of the place by drilling a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third quarter. One of the many soul-crushing shots delivered by Charlotte, which ultimately stunned everyone by earning a 124-97 win over the reigning NBA champions. "Credit to them," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of the Hornets. "They did a really good job of attacking us on the offensive end. They did a really good job of guarding us. They made the game hard on us and obviously outplayed us thoroughly for 48 minutes."
Brandon Rahbar: Mark Daigneault said the team is never going to use back to backs as an excuse for losses. “That’s a bad habit to get into.”
