LAS VEGAS (July 5, 2018) – Former Oklahoma Christian basketball player and graduate assistant coach Will Chapman will be on the Oklahoma City Thunder's coaching staff during the MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2018, which will begin Friday.
Chapman spent the 2017-18 season with the Thunder, where he serves as the franchise's advance/opposition scout. The previous season, he worked with the Houston Rockets as an assistant with that team's basketball operations and video coordination team. Chapman is thought to be the first OC alumnus to work on a NBA staff.
It's common for NBA franchises to give staff members coaching opportunities during the summer league, which features just-drafted players and others in their first or second seasons in the league, as well as G-League players and undrafted free agents.
The head coach of the Oklahoma City Blue (the Thunder's G League affiliate), Mark Daigneault, will serve as the Thunder's head coach for the Summer League in Las Vegas, with Thunder assistant coach Vin Bhavnani working as the associate head coach. Chapman will serve as one of six assistant coaches.
Among the players on the Thunder's Summer League roster will be current Oklahoma City players Terrance Ferguson and Dakari Johnson, along with the franchise's two-way players, P.J. Dozier and Daniel Hamilton.
The Thunder's team will play a minimum of five games, starting July 6 against the Charlotte Hornets. Oklahoma City will face the Brooklyn Nets on July 7 and the Toronto Raptors on July 9 before beginning tournament play on July 11. The league's championship game is set for July 17. Games will be televised live on ESPN channels or on NBA TV.
Chapman was involved with OC's men's basketball program from 2008 until 2013. Before starting with the Rockets in 2016, he spent two years working on the staff of head coach Willis Wilson at NCAA Division I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Chapman served as the Islanders' scholastic coordinator, a role that included coordinating video, film exchange and video breakdown, and also worked as the program's academic liaison.
He played two seasons of junior varsity basketball for OC, starting in 2008, then spent two seasons as a program assistant before becoming longtime head coach Dan Hays' graduate assistant during the 2012-13 season. Chapman worked alongside Hays and former assistants Terril Hankins and Rob McKinzie during a campaign in which the Eagles reached the National Christian College Athletic Association national championship game.
Chapman earned his bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies from OC in 2012 before completing his master's degree in sports administration from East Central in July 2013.
He spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Southwestern Oklahoma State, working under head coach Bob Battisti, who served as an OC assistant during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.
