Entering Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder sit in first place in the Western Conference standings. This means there’s a decent chance Mark Daigneault becomes the All-Star head coach if the Thunder receives some help.
Usually, the head coaches of the first-placed team two weeks before the All-Star game in each conference receive the nod to be the All-Star head coach. Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers already clinched his spot.
Considering both the Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves have the same records, tiebreakers might need to get involved.
In that case, the head-to-head matchup is the first tiebreaker, which draws at even as OKC and Minnesota split its season series at two apiece. The next tiebreaker is conference record, which the Timberwolves own.
This means the only hope for the Thunder to send Daigneault to All-Star weekend is needing a combination of a win over the Toronto Raptors and a loss from the Timberwolves to the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
Both of these results need to happen for OKC to send its head coach to All-Star weekend. If the Timberwolves beat the Rockets, then Chris Finch will be the All-Star head coach.
Another wildcard scenario is the LA Clippers — who sit one game back of first place — sending Ty Lue to All-Star weekend. For that to happen, the Clippers need to win against the Miami Heat and both the Thunder and Timberwolves need to lose on Sunday.
If Daigneault becomes the All-Star head coach, he’ll get a chance to coach All-Star starter Shai Gilgeous-Alexander along with joining Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Keyontae Johnson for the weekend festivities.
