NBA Betting Odds: Can Mark Daigneault Lock Down Coach of the Year?

It's been a while since we last checked in on the 2023-24 NBA Coach of the Year award race. This season has featured some bang-up coaching jobs, and more than a few coaches deserve praise for their efforts during the season.

That said, a select few stand head and shoulders above the rest for this year's coveted award. It's been a tight race for much of the year, but now with the finish line in sight, our frontrunner seems to be securing his first title.

So which coaches have the best odds to win this year's Coach of the Year honors? Let's check out FanDuel Sportsbook's NBA Awards Betting Odds market and see.

Coach of the Year Betting Odds

Mark Daigneault (-550)

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been on a tear this year, and head coach Mark Daigneault is getting the praise he deserves. A year after finishing second in Coach of the Year voting, he's on track to seal the deal by taking the Thunder almost to the top of the Western Conference. He was tasked with overseeing one of the biggest tear-down and rebuilding projects in the league, and he's done a remarkable job with it.

The Thunder hold a 55-25 record entering the final weekend of the regular season. It's tied for the second-best record in the West and the third-best record in the NBA overall. With just two games remaining on the schedule, they still technically have a chance to finish first in the West. If they can pull that off, Daigneault's already solid case for the award would become all but cemented.

That said, if someone was looking for reasons to cast their vote for another coach, there could still be some reasons to doubt Daigneault.

The Thunder benefitted throughout the year from having one of the healthiest rosters in the league. Unfortunately, they've been missing key starters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams recently. With both players sidelined last week, the Thunder lost three of their four games, and they previously went .500 in two games with Williams available but without Gilgeous-Alexander.

With context, this probably isn't a huge deal at all, as even with their recent stretch of losses, they're still just a game back from the top spot in the competitive Western Conference. But the team's recent trouble adjusting without top players could keep the door open for another coach to claim this year's Coach of the Year honors.

Daigneault could slam that door shut with a strong finish to the season, and with Gilgeous-Alexander's return, he should be able to do just that. He's been the frontrunner for the award for months at this point and is a pair of games away from sealing the deal.

Chris Finch (+600)

The Minnesota Timberwolves are the reason the Thunder aren't alone as the second-place team in the Western Conference -- they too are just a single game back from the Denver Nuggets.

Chris Finch has done a remarkable job helping the Wolves turn the corner in recent years. Before his hiring, the Timberwolves had been mired in mediocrity. The team hadn't won their division since the 2003-04 season and produced just two seasons with a .500 or better win percentage. They've managed that feat in each of their last three seasons with Finch at the helm and are still live to win the Western Conference this time as the regular season draws to a close.

Unlike Daigneault and the Thunder, the Timberwolves did have to make some real mid-season adjustments. Star forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns suffered a serious knee injury partway through the season and missed 18 games. During those 18 games, Minnesota rallied to a 12-6 record -- a fair bit better than the 1-4 record Oklahoma City managed without Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams.

We're giving Daigneault credit for helping the Thunder's young stars reach their potential, so it's fair to point out Finch's work in that department, as well. Since Finch took on the full-time job, Anthony Edwards has been selected to the All-Star team in back-to-back years. Towns ended a multi-year All-Star drought, earning nods in two of his three seasons under Finch. Rudy Gobert is once again the frontrunner with -2400 odds to win Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Naz Reid has the second-shortest odds to win the Sixth Man of the Year award (+230).

The Thunder's rapid ascent to the top of the conference is more eye-catching than the Timberwolves' steady growth, so it makes sense that Daigneault has a leg up on Finch. But Finch has done a fantastic job in his own right and is still live to win Coach of the Year with his +600 odds.

Jamahl Mosley (+1100)

With the end of the regular season drawing to a close, Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley seems to be making a last-minute surge in the Coach of the Year race. While Chris Finch and Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla have seen their odds start to slip as Daigneault pulls ahead, Mosely's odds have spiked since our previous write-up, jumping from +2300 to +1100.

Mosley's resume looks relatively similar to Finch's and Daigneault's. He took over a struggling franchise and slowly honed them into a playoff-caliber team over the course of three seasons. They're currently the fifth-place team in the Eastern Conference and can lock up the top spot in the Southeast Division for the first time since the 2018-19 season with one more win.

Like Daigneault, Mosley was tasked with coaching up young talent for a rebuilding franchise. The Magic have built up a strong defensive team around a core of 2022-23 Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner while navigating numerous injuries throughout the season. According to numberFire's schedule-adjusted metrics, the Magic fielded the third-best defense in the league this season.

Mosley's odds to take home the Coach of the Year award likely spiked after bettors saw his team's performance out of the All-Star break -- they posted an impressive 12-3 record in their first 15 games out of the break. They were starting to look like a team that figured something out and could become a real threat in the playoffs.

Their hot start out of the break cooled off recently, though. The Magic have since dropped games against the Charlotte Hornets, the Houston Rockets, the Milwaukee Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo, and a New York Knicks squad without OG Anunoby, Julius Randle, or Mitchell Robinson.

Stacked up against what coaches like Daigneault and Finch have done this year, I'm not sure Mosley has what it takes to win Coach of the Year for his efforts in 2023-24. That said, he will certainly be on the short list of coaches to watch for the award in the 2024-25 campaign.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.