Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault spoke with the media following Wednesday’s training camp practice and provided his thoughts on the Vit Krejci trade that occurred on Tuesday.
The Thunder traded Krejci to the Atlanta Hawks for Maurice Harkless, a 2029 first-round pick, and amendments to a 2025 second-round pick that is now top-40 protected.
Daigneault refused to comment on Harkless’ future, deferring to general manager Sam Presti who will decide on his future. Daigneault did speak highly on Krejci, saying he’s proud of his Thunder tenure and ability to overcome his torn ACL.
“We’re grateful for every player that comes here. We want players to leave here better than when they came in. When we drafted Vit, he had a torn ACL. His time with us started with a 12-month rehab, which is really really hard…
“Vit’s a guy trying to establish himself in professional basketball and can’t play. And then even when he got health, he had physical setbacks last year, multiple times.
“And the one thing — I said is to the team last night, I said to Vit last night and I’ll say to you guys — is he should be proud of it. No matter what that guy was enduring, whether it was hurt or healthy, whether he was playing or not playing, Blue or Thunder, his energy level always sustained. And that’s impressive because he endured a lot of setbacks and adversities. But it’s the importance of growing through experience because it’s hard to be a professional basketball player and for different reasons for different guys, but I was always impressed with the optimism he brought to that I think will bode well for him.
“We obviously wish him luck We’ll be rooting for him.”
