Back to business for the Oklahoma City Thunder. After winning the NBA Championship on Sunday, the league did anything but pause for celebrations.
The Thunder wrapped up the 2025 NBA Draft on Thursday night and on Saturday were dressed to the nines to introduce the rookies to the local media. In a week from now, they will tip off their first game on the Summer League hardwood.
That roster, with answers of who will don a Thunder jersey in Salt Lake City, is still up in the air. We got no closer to solving that mystery on Saturday afternoon, despite the media’s best efforts.
However, it was revealed who would serve as head coaches for Oklahoma City’s summer league squads. Two of head coach Mark Daigneault’s assistants, Daniel Dixon and Connor Johnson.
Dixon will handle the Salt Lake City portion of Summer League, a three-game stint with games against the Grizzlies, 76ers and Jazz. Johnson is tabbed as the Las Vegas bench boss for the five-game adventure in Sin City.
“These guys, first of all, they have their own careers. We want to invest in all the people in the organization with all the resources that we have. Summer League is a great opportunity to do that, Draft workouts are a great opportunity to do that. These are the guys that are going to be working with our players. I am coaching the team, but they’re the ones on the ground level with the guys. You want the highest level of confidence, one-on-one, with your players. We are constantly going to try to invest in that to make sure we are delivering the best developmental experience for the players. Summer League is an opportunity to do that and we try to take advantage of it,” Daigneault said.
