On the 26th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, the most deadly domestic attack in U.S. history, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault recalled a moment during his interview for the Oklahoma City Blue in 2014.
“On my job interview for the Blue head coaching job, the first time I stepped foot in the state of Oklahoma, on I think the first day or the second day, I was at the memorial. Which I think speaks volumes to the priority that the organization places on that event and that memorial,” he said during a Zoom press conference.
On the morning of April 19, 1995, 168 people were killed and 680 others injured when a pair of domestic terrorists detonated a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. More than 300 buildings in the area were damaged or destroyed.
General manager Sam Presti spoke with players Monday morning to discuss the attack and make sure the players were aware it was the anniversary.
Daigneault said that Presti had two key messages from the discussion.
“Number one, not taking the day for granted and remaining extremely grateful, because obviously a lot of lives were lost and it impacted generations.
“He also talked about the connection that this particular organization and team has to the community, and the connection that the community has to the team. We have a lot of new players, we have a lot of young players, and usually the expression of that is when fans are in the seats, and we haven’t had the ability to do that this year.
“That was something that he really verbalized to the guys today, is that this is a unique relationship between an organization and a community, and we should just embrace that. It’s an extremely unique relationship of professional sports and the NBA, and we really feel closely tied to it.”