The Oklahoma City Thunder routed the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday night to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012. The Thunder, who earned the No. 1 seed in the West and boast the best regular-season record for 2024-25, have never won a title in OKC, though the franchise does have one championship from its time as the Seattle SuperSonics.
Consequently, Thunder players, including this year's MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, were sufficiently pumped up after the win, at which point they decided to playfully drape head coach Mark Daigneault in sweat towels and Finals merch as he spoke on-court postgame.
And seeing as Daigneault was in the middle of praising his guys, the game of dress-up prompted the coach to include a lovable "dig" at those standing around him.
"These guys are uncommon. They do everything right. They're professional. they're high character," Daigneault said, as the towels and baseball hats come down, amid cheers from the crowd. "They're idiots," he added in, with a smile.
"They're competitive, and most of all, they're team-first. They embody everything it means to be a team."
Watch that funny moment below:
"They're professional, they're high character... they're idiots!" 😂
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 29, 2025
Coach Daigneault gives his roster its flowers after they advanced to the NBA Finals 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/IwYMinpatu
The Thunder, whose performance this postseason has been so strong that it garnered an apology from one Magic Johnson, will face the winner of the Eastern Conference finals in the championship series, starting Thursday, June 5. The Indiana Pacers currently lead the ECF 3-1, though the New York Knicks will hope to eke out another win in Game 5 on Thursday night.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mark Daigneault Had Comically Sweet Praise for Thunder Roster After Big WCF Win.
