Carlson: Why OKC Thunder's track record with Billy Donovan, Scott Brooks could help Sam Presti in coaching search

The Thunder has been in Oklahoma City for 4,452 days.

Twelve years and change.

During that time, the franchise has had only three head coaches, P.J. Carlesimo, Scott Brooks and Billy Donovan. And since Carlesimo only stuck around for 142 days, the vast majority of the Thunder’s time in town has been overseen by only two coaches.

Twelve years and very little change.

The Thunder, of course, will be looking for a new head coach after Donovan and the team announced Tuesday that they were mutually parting ways. Donovan wanted answers about the future — what coach wouldn’t? — but as much as Thunder general manager Sam Presti wanted to provide them, he couldn’t because of ongoing financial uncertainties during this pandemic.

Salary cap?

Luxury tax?

Ticket revenue?

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All of those are major factors in the making of an NBA team, and all of them are major unknowns at this point.

So, Donovan has gone, and Presti has to find himself a new head coach. It may be a hard sell — who wants to take over a team that might soon be headed down Rebuild Highway toward Tank City? — but Presti has at least one bargaining chip in his pocket.

Twelve years and very little change.

Presti and the Thunder have shown Oklahoma City is a place that a coach can come and stay awhile.

The average tenure of an NBA head coach is longer than the average career of an NBA player, but it still isn’t all that long. An analysis by SB Nation earlier this season indicated the average head coaching tenure was 3.7 years. Not great, but that’s the highest mark over the past decade.

Thunder head coaches have far outpaced that average. Brooks held the job for nearly seven seasons, being the interim head coach for the better part of a season before getting the interim tag removed, and Donovan was on the OKC sideline for five seasons.

Much of the credit goes to Brooks and Donovan.

“In any situation, there’s going to be a lot of adversity over a five-year period of time,” Presti said.

Brooks and Donovan both coached Russell Westbrook for an extended period of time, and that alone would bring some adversity. Many have said the point guard is a great teammate, but it seemed he often saw coaching as suggestion rather than mandate.

Of course, both head coaches dealt with many other issues. Players coming. Players going. Players injured.

Brooks and Donovan won at a high rate despite all that.

But there were grumbles about both. Some folks said they needed to win more. Or win more in the playoffs. Or run a different offense. Or use a different defense. Or play some guys more and some guys less.

Presti may have well thought some of those things, too.

“Look, I’ll be the first to tell you,” he said, “with Scott and Billy, we didn’t always agree on everything. I mean, that would be crazy to think that.

“But dealing man-to-man, working through things, learning about each other, sticking with things, I’m really proud of that.”

Therein lies the other half of the equation. While Brooks and Donovan were good at their jobs, Presti had their backs when voices big and small might’ve said otherwise. Yes, Presti eventually fired Brooks, but there were some who thought he should’ve been gone long before Presti ultimately pulled the trigger. And there have been people who thought Donovan should be given the boot pretty much every season he's been here.

How could he have Westbrook and Kevin Durant, then Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony and have bupkis to show for it?

Neither Donovan nor Brooks went without adversity.

“I’d just like to think that when that kind of stuff comes up, you stick with things and you try to stick with people,” Presti said. “I generally feel like if you stick with people that there’s going to be some benefits for that.”

The Thunder has been one of the most consistent and stable franchises in basketball since it arrived in Oklahoma City, and being willing to keep head coaches around has been a big part of that.

And now as Presti goes looking for the Thunder’s next head coach, the franchise’s willingness to buy in to its coaches is going to be a selling point. There’ll be no looking over shoulders, no dodging knee-jerk reactions.

Twelve years and very little change.

Do a good job, and head coaches can stay with the Thunder five years, seven years or maybe even longer.

“I hope we can find somebody else in the future that has that type of tenure,” Presti said. “You know, it’s half a decade.

“Hopefully, the next person will be here even longer.”

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK or follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok.