# List of Oklahoma City Thunder head coaches

The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at the Paycom Center. The Thunder is owned by Professional Basketball Club LLC with Sam Presti as its general manager. The team was formed in 1967 as the Seattle SuperSonics. After spending 41 seasons in Seattle, 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. 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.
There have been 18 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. He is also the franchise's all-time leader in regular season games coached and won, playoff games coached and won. Wilkens, Paul Westphal, Nate McMillan and Bob Weiss formerly played for the team in Seattle. Scott Brooks in 2009–10, and Mark Daigneault in 2023–24, are the only coaches to have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award with the franchise.

## Key

| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| 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.
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements |
| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | | Achievements | Reference |
| Seattle SuperSonics |||||||||||||
| 1 | Al Bianchi | 1967–1969 | 164 | 53 | 111 | .323 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2 | Lenny Wilkens† | 1969–1972 (as player-coach) | 246 | 121 | 125 | .492 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
| 3 | Tom Nissalke | 1972–1973 | 45 | 13 | 32 | .289 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 4 | Bucky Buckwalter | 1973 | 37 | 13 | 24 | .351 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 5 | Bill Russell† | 1973–1977 | 328 | 162 | 166 | .494 | 15 | 6 | 9 | .400 | |
| 6 | Bob Hopkins* | 1977 | 22 | 5 | 17 | .227 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| — | Lenny Wilkens† | 1977–1985 | 634 | 357 | 277 | .563 | 69 | 37 | 32 | .536 | NBA championship (1979) |
| 7 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 1985–1990 | 410 | 202 | 208 | .493 | 27 | 12 | 15 | .444 | |
| 8 | K. C. Jones | 1990–1992 | 118 | 59 | 59 | .500 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | |
| 9 | Bob Kloppenburg | 1992 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 10 | George Karl† | 1992–1998 | 534 | 384 | 150 | .719 | 80 | 40 | 40 | .500 | |
| 11 | Paul Westphal | 1998–2000 | 147 | 76 | 71 | .517 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | |
| 12 | Nate McMillan | 2000–2005 | 395 | 212 | 183 | .537 | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | |
| 13 | Bob Weiss | 2005–2006 | 30 | 13 | 17 | .433 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 14 | Bob Hill | 2006–2007 | 134 | 53 | 81 | .396 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 15 | P. J. Carlesimo | 2007–2008 | 82 | 20 | 62 | .244 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| Oklahoma City Thunder |||||||||||||
| — | P. J. Carlesimo | 2008 | 13 | 1 | 12 | .077 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 16 | Scott Brooks | 2008–2015 | 545 | 338 | 207 | .620 | 73 | 39 | 34 | .534 | NBA Coach of the Year (2009–10) |
| 17 | Billy Donovan | 2015–2020 | 400 | 243 | 157 | .608 | 41 | 18 | 23 | .439 | |
| 18 | Mark Daigneault | 2020–present | 236 | 143 | 175 | .450 | 10 | 6 | 4 | .600 | NBA Coach of the Year (2023–24) |

## Gallery

* Lenny Wilkens was the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1969 to 1972 while as a player and from 1977 to 1985, and won an NBA championship in 1979.
* George Karl was the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1991 to 1998, and led them to their third NBA Finals in 1996.
* Nate McMillan was the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics from 2000 to 2005.
* Scott Brooks was the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2008 to 2015, and led them to their first NBA Finals in 2012.
* Billy Donovan was the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2015 to 2020.