List of Oklahoma City Thunder head coaches

The Oklahoma City Thunder is an American professional basketball franchise based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It plays in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was known as the Seattle SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008. The team plays its home games at the Paycom Center.[1] The Thunder is owned by Professional Basketball Club LLC with Sam Presti as its general manager. The team was formed in 1967. After spending 41 seasons in Seattle, Washington, the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City. Owner Clay Bennett, who purchased the team in 2006, sought to get public funding for a new arena in Seattle, or a major renovation of the KeyArena in 2007. After failing to do so, he decided to move the team to Oklahoma City.[2] Seattle sued Bennett's group to enforce the lease that required the team to stay until 2010. The two sides reached a $45 million settlement to pay off the team's lease with KeyArena in July 2008.[3][4]

exterior view Paycom Center
The Oklahoma City Thunder plays at the Paycom Center, since 2008.

There have been 16 head coaches for the Thunder franchise. The franchise won its only NBA championship in the 1979 NBA Finals while coached by Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens. Wilkens is the only member of the franchise to have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.[5] He is also the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season games coached, regular-season games won, playoff games coached, and playoff games won. Wilkens, Paul Westphal, Nate McMillan and Bob Weiss formerly played for the team in Seattle.[6][7][8] Former head coach Scott Brooks is the only coach to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award with the franchise.[9]


Key

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win%Winning percentage
#Number of coaches
*Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the SuperSonics/Thunder
Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season.

#NameTermGCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
Seattle SuperSonics
1Al Bianchi1967196916453111.323000[10]
2Lenny Wilkens19691972 (as player-coach)246121125.492000One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[11][5]
3Tom Nissalke1972451332.289000[12]
4Bucky Buckwalter1973371324.351000[13]
5Bill Russell19731977328162166.4941569.400[14]
6Bob Hopkins*197722517.227000[15]
Lenny Wilkens19771985634357277.563693732.5361 NBA championship (1979)
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[11]
[5]
7Bernie Bickerstaff19851990410202208.493271215.444[16]
8K. C. Jones199019911185959.500523.400[17]
9Bob Kloppenburg1991422.500000[18]
10George Karl19911998534384150.719804040.500[19]
11Paul Westphal199820001477671.517523.400[20]
12Nate McMillan20002005395212183.5371688.500[21]
13Bob Weiss2005301317.433000[22]
14Bob Hill200620071345381.396000[23]
15P. J. Carlesimo2007–2008822062.244000[24]
Oklahoma City Thunder
P. J. Carlesimo200813112.077000[24]
16Scott Brooks20082015545338207.620733934.5342009–10 NBA Coach of the Year[9][25]
17Billy Donovan20152020400243157.608411823.439[26]
18Mark Daigneault2020–present236143175.450

Gallery

References

General
  • "Oklahoma City Thunder Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
Specific