Oklahoma City Thunder Assistant Coaches And Coaching Staff 2023

Mark Daigneault is the Oklahoma City Thunder head coach. Mark was appointed for the role in 2020, after working 4 years as an assistant coach.

Daigneault has spent five seasons with the junior team Oklahoma City Blue. During his time with the G-League team, he won three NBA G League Coach of the Month awards and recorded the most wins by a coach in the franchise's history.

After assuming the position of head coach, Mark led the first season of Thunder by making them the eighth-best-ranked defensive team.

OKC improved under the tutelage of Daigneault and became a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference during the 2023 season.

However, they were defeated by Minnesota Timberwolves, who stepped into the 2023 playoffs. Despite the defeat, Mark was nominated for NBA Coach of the Year. 

Dave Bliss is one of the five staff of OKC Thunder assistant coaches. Bliss has an impressive coaching career with noteworthy experience. 

Before his stint with Oklahoma, he worked as a player development coach for New York Knicks and coaching staff for the German senior men's national team. 

Dave joined Oklahoma City Thunder in 2018 and still remains active with the club. Initially, he joined as a senior player development coach for the Blues but later his position was changed to assistant coach. 

This Veteran coach also served as the NBA head summer league coach in the 2019 season for the Thunders. He also ran drill work for players for game days and practice and scouted opposing team reports as well. 

Bliss and Daigneault were able to build a strong foundation for the future endeavors of the "Thunders."

Mike Wilks is an integral member of the OKC Thunder coaching staff. He won the 2005 NBA Championship as a player with San Antonio Spurs.

The former point guard represented Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Seattle SuperSonics, Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, and Oklahoma City Thunder during his playing career.

Wilks has been the assistant coach of the Thunders since 2019. Furthermore, he previously worked as a scout for the franchise back in 2012. 

In his short period, he performed the duties of acting coach against the Kings in 2021, he also coached the second NBA game after Daigneault entered into COVID protocols after testing positive. 

Chip Engelland joined as an assistant coach for the Thunders in 2022. Chip has previously won two NBA titles, both with Spurs in 2007 and 2014.

Engelland also secured gold while representing Phillippines at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan (1985). California-based coach has a praiseworthy resume which includes his time with Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, and San Antonio Spurs.

As a player, he went undrafted in NBA in 1983 but played for teams like Northern Cement, Topeka Sizzlers, Columbus Horizon, San Jose Jammers, Calgary 88's, and more. 

Henceforth, he found more success as a coach than a player in his basketball career. Chip is notably known for his shooting skills, he was called the "Machine Gun" by Filipino fans due to his exceptional shooting. 

Grant Gibbs joined OKC in 2017 and became an assistant coach in 2022. Gibbs initially joined the G-league team OKC Blue as an assistant coach. 

Gibbs is also a former player turned coach, but he had a very short stint as a player in comparison to his coaching career. Grant's coaching began in Oklahoma and he has remained with the club for the past six years.

Correspondingly, Grant is the third coach joining the coaching staff of Thunder. Engelland is an American-Filipino known for introducing Chip Shots in his basketball champs in his 1993 coaching career. 

Gibbs became an entrepreneur after founding the In-Net corporation where he strengthened his standing as a technical advisor thus he landed his first job with Detroit Pistons players' shooting consultant in the 1999-2000 season. 

David Akinyooye is the assistant Coach and Summer league head coach of Oklahoma City Thunder. He also worked at NY Knicks and SA Spurs.

Akinyooye is known to be diligent and vocal about his opinions. According to former coach of the Chicago Bulls, Jim Boyle "he wasn't scared and often dove right in." 

In his time with Knicks, David was a coaching workout associate responsible for managing drills in training and game days. With the Spurs, he assumed the role of player development quality assurance assistant. 

Akinyooye has also foreign league experience after joining as an assistant for ASVEL Lyon-Villerubanne, where the majority of the shareholder was Tony Parker. 

Eric Maynor is the other assistant coach of OKC. Maynor initially entered as an assistant mentor but has now become part of player development.

Maynor looks after monitoring players' skills on-court, athlete growth, education, providing mentorship, and other strategies as part of the job.

As a player, Eric played with Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers, Varese, and many others.

Eric was one of the most talented players in the NBA, it is likely that he shall translate his insights on helping players achieve their team and personal goals in the NBA.

Connor Johnson is the program development coach for the Oklahoma City Thunders. Johnson was previously a part of the Philadelphia 76ers.

His coaching journey began after joining as a graduate assistant for Villanova Men's Basketball. Then, he joined the 76ers where he took over the role of basketball operations. 

Eventually, he was promoted to the Director of Player Development and coaching administration in 2017. Johnson worked for the Sixers for four years of his career. 

Oklahoma hired him in 2021 as Assistant Coach for Program Development. He has done a wonderful job to date of assessing new prospects and improving the current roster. 

Vanessa Brooks is an athletic trainer of Oklahoma City Thunder, who is known for manual therapy and providing sports medicine to the players. 

Brooks graduated from Duke University, Wake Forest University, and the American Academy of Manipulative Therapy. She boasts a vast level of experience having trained for five years in manipulative therapy.

Vanessa is an excellent addition to the team, thanks to her extensive experience in therapy. She is also a human & player performance analyst.

She has been part of the organization for 4 years and 2 months. Before joining the Thunder, Brooks worked with Division one athletics university which led her to complete PT Sports Fellowship. 

Tony Katzenmeier has been the OKC athletic trainer for more than 13 years. Tony received his physical education from Eastern Illinois University.

Katzenmeier is one of the loyal employees of the club. Since, joining the Thunder in 2011 he has been promoted three times and currently holds the position of a full-fledged athletic trainer. 

Tony has demonstrated a history of working in the sports industry. Moreover, he was also part of Athletic Trainer USA Basketball for 2 months. 

Hence, his significant work experience relies on his contribution to Oklahoma Thunder as a minor league trainer, medical research coordinator, and current athletic trainer.