His name is Mark Daigneault. Everything that is most French-speaking. Luguentz Dort, who coached with the Oklahoma City Thunder, was born in Massachusetts. It is no surprise, then, that nearly a million French Canadians emigrated to New England between 1840 and 1930.
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That’s it for the little history lesson.
So it was normal to ask Mark Daigneault if he was from Quebec after his team’s morning practice Thursday at the Bell Centre.
“The last time I was asked the question, I didn’t know the answer. But I asked my father and he told me that his grandfather, my great-grandfather, was from Quebec. I have a French-Canadian last name, I have French-Canadian roots, so it’s good to be home!” he said with a laugh to reporters, a few hours before the preseason game between the Thunder and the Detroit Pistons.
History doesn’t say whether his Quebec backer, Luguentz Dort, will teach him a few words of French.