The Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder franchise has been around since 1967. The organization was the Seattle SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008. They became the OKC Thunder during the 2008-09 season and haven't looked back.
The 1979 SuperSonics are the only team in franchise history to win a championship. However, the Sonics/Thunder organization has been home to some of the best coaches in NBA history despite the one title.
For this piece, we ranked the top four coaches in SuperSonics/Thunder franchise history, leading off with a guy who is currently at the helm of the Thunder's head coaching post.
4. Billy Donovan
Donovan is a polarizing figure in OKC because he wasn't able to win a title with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both essentially in their primes.
However, it was Durant, and not Donovan, who choked in Games 5, 6 and 7 of the 2016 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors after the Thunder had taken a 3-1 series lead.
Donovan has racked up 239 wins with OKC during the regular season and 15 in the playoffs. The former Florida Gator coach has the fourth-most wins in franchise history as a head coach both in the regular season and postseason.
Before the 2019-20 season was suspended due to COVID-19, Donovan had the Thunder in fifth place in the Western Conference standings with a record of 40-24.
3. Scott Brooks
Brooks took the Thunder to the 2012 Finals, where OKC faced LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. Brooks was working with a young Durant, Westbrook and James Harden.
The Thunder won Game 1 of that series but wound up losing four in a row. OKC hasn't been back to the Finals since.
Brooks won 338 regular-season games with the Thunder and 39 in the playoffs. He's third in franchise history for regular-season wins and second for postseason victories.
2. George Karl
The ’96 SuperSonics led by Karl, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp were close to winning the championship. However, they ran into the 72-10 Chicago Bulls, led by some guys named Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Karl was able to win 384 regular-season games with the Sonics. He's in second place in that category in franchise history. George also has 40 postseason victories, giving him one more than Scott to make him the best Sonics/Thunder playoff coach of all-time.
Karl also has the best regular-season winning percentage at .719.
1. Lenny Wilkens
The 1978-79 SuperSonics were coached by Wilkens and won the championship over the Washington Bullets in five games. Dennis Johnson averaged 22.6 points, 6.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds in the five-game series to win the '79 Finals MVP.
Wilkens won a whopping 478 regular-season games with the Sonics. He's the winningest coach in franchise history.
However, when you coach 880 games for a team, you are bound to lose a lot of contests. Wilkens lost 402 games with the Sonics. He's the franchise leader in losses as well as wins.
Hopefully the Thunder can capture a title soon. They certainly have the right youngster to build around in point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The future of All-Star point guard Chris Paul is still unclear since he has a ton of money left on his contract and he's not getting any younger, but Paul was playing like a star this season before the coronavirus forced play to be suspended.
Donovan appears to have secured a long-term future with the Thunder after having success in 2019-20 without a true superstar on the roster for the first time in his OKC tenure. If the 2019-20 season resumes, the Thunder could be players in the playoffs.