Why Mark Daigneault is a fan of NBA referees visiting OKC Thunder training camp

With a group of NBA officials making their annual trip to training camp, the Oklahoma City Thunder have embraced their visit over the years. Along with the rest of the league, they travel across the continent to make sure everybody is on the same page and is aware of what is going to be called and not called.

This year's point of emphasis involved push-off leeway and defensive flopping. Expect the NBA referees to be extra cognizant of both aspects in the game. Heck, Scottie Barnes was called for a push-off in the 2026-27 preseason opener this past weekend.

But Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault believes the NBA officials' visit is more beneficial than just explaining the points of emphasis that usually wane down once the regular-season machine

gets going. Instead, he's a fan of the open dialogue it presents and how their presence adds to their training camp scrimmages.

"It's less about the new rules. It's more about it professionalizes the segment of practice that they're covering, they're going to manage," Daigneault said. "If you tell them to manage like a game, it's going to feel like a game. We try to take advantage of that. It just gives us some exposure to that type of environment before we actually get into it in the preseason game."

Ever since Daigneault took over, the Thunder have always been very diplomatic with their approach towards the NBA officials. Anytime he's asked about a critical call or non-call postgame, he's always voiced an empathetic point of view instead of going the easy route of verbally destroying them for social-media clout. And even when he's publicly disagreed, he's done so methodologically and backed up with stats.

NBA referees have visited every training camp so far. The Thunder are obviously included in that. And despite what the internet memes say, their fouls drawn and fouls called are usually around the upper-one-third category over the years. But never egregiously out of place. At least compared to some other teams.

"It fits in really well. Having them the last two days is particularly helpful," Daigneault said. "Because this is the part of the camp where we start to scale up some of the live game flow."

Mark Daigneault on NBA referees visiting them at training camp: “If you tell them to manage like a game, it's going to feel like a game. We try to take advantage of that. It just gives us some exposure to that type of environment.” pic.twitter.com/y0EoX1ETPs

— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 4, 2026

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Why Mark Daigneault is a fan of NBA referees visiting OKC Thunder training camp