# List of Los Angeles Lakers head coaches

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, formerly known as the Minneapolis Lakers from 1948 to 1960. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers have played their home games at the Crypto.com Arena since 1999. The franchise took its official name from Minnesota's nickname, the Land of 10,000 Lakes. At the time the name was revealed, the Lakers were in Minneapolis. In their franchise history, the team has only missed the NBA playoffs 11 times. According to Forbes magazine, the Lakers are the second most valuable basketball franchise in the NBA, valued at approximately US$4.4billion, surpassed only by the New York Knicks. The Lakers are majority-owned by Jerry Buss's family trust, while Rob Pelinka is the general manager.
There have been 26 head coaches for the Lakers since joining the NBA. The franchise's first head coach while in the NBA was John Kundla, who coached for 11 seasons with the Lakers. The Lakers won four additional NBA championships in the next five years under Kundla. Phil Jackson is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (902), most playoff games coached (181), most regular-season game wins (610), and most playoff wins (118). The Lakers have won 17 championships; five with Kundla, five with Jackson, four with Riley, one with Bill Sharman, one with Paul Westhead, and one with Frank Vogel. With the Lakers, Sharman, Riley, and Del Harris have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, in 1972, 1990, and 1995 respectively. Kundla, Sharman, Riley, and Jackson have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Jerry West, Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott, and Luke Walton have all played and coached for the Lakers.

## Key

| GC | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| # | Number of coaches |
| * | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Lakers |
| † | Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
| *† | Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and spent entire coaching career with the Lakers |

## Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the 2023–24 season.
| # | Name | Term | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements |
| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | | Achievements | Reference |
| Minneapolis Lakers |||||||||||||
| 1 | John Kundla*† | 1948–1958 | 653 | 390 | 263 | .597 | 82 | 54 | 28 | .659 | 5 Championships (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
| 2 | George Mikan* | 1958 | 39 | 9 | 30 | .231 | — | — | — | — | |
| — | John Kundla*† | 1958–1959 | 72 | 33 | 39 | .458 | 13 | 6 | 7 | .462 | One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
| 3 | John Castellani* | 1959–1960 | 36 | 11 | 25 | .306 | — | — | — | — | |
| 4 | Jim Pollard | 1960 | 39 | 14 | 25 | .359 | 9 | 5 | 4 | .556 | |
| Los Angeles Lakers |||||||||||||
| 5 | Fred Schaus* | 1960–1967 | 560 | 315 | 245 | .563 | 71 | 33 | 38 | .465 | |
| 6 | Butch van Breda Kolff | 1967–1969 | 164 | 107 | 57 | .652 | 33 | 21 | 12 | .636 | |
| 7 | Joe Mullaney | 1969–1971 | 164 | 94 | 70 | .573 | 30 | 16 | 14 | .533 | |
| 8 | Bill Sharman† | 1971–1976 | 410 | 246 | 164 | .600 | 37 | 22 | 15 | .595 | 1971–72 NBA Coach of the Year 1 Championship (1972) |
| 9 | Jerry West* | 1976–1979 | 246 | 145 | 101 | .589 | 22 | 8 | 14 | .364 | |
| 10 | Jack McKinney | 1979 | 14 | 10 | 4 | .714 | — | — | — | — | |
| 11 | Paul Westhead | 1979–1981 | 161 | 111 | 50 | .689 | 19 | 13 | 6 | .684 | 1 Championship (1980) |
| 12 | Pat Riley | 1981–1990 | 727 | 533 | 194 | .733 | 149 | 102 | 47 | .685 | 1989–90 NBA Coach of the Year 4 Championships (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
| 13 | Mike Dunleavy | 1990–1992 | 164 | 101 | 63 | .616 | 23 | 13 | 10 | .565 | |
| 14 | Randy Pfund* | 1992–1994 | 146 | 66 | 80 | .452 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | |
| 15 | Bill Bertka* | 1994 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | — | — | — | — | |
| 16 | Magic Johnson* | 1994 | 16 | 5 | 11 | .313 | — | — | — | — | |
| 17 | Del Harris | 1994–1999 | 340 | 224 | 116 | .659 | 36 | 17 | 19 | .472 | 1994–95 NBA Coach of the Year |
| — | Bill Bertka* | 1999 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | — | — | — | — | |
| 18 | Kurt Rambis | 1999 | 37 | 24 | 13 | .649 | 8 | 3 | 5 | .375 | |
| 19 | Phil Jackson | 1999–2004 | 410 | 287 | 123 | .700 | 92 | 64 | 28 | .696 | 3 Championships (2000, 2001, 2002) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
| 20 | Rudy Tomjanovich | 2004–2005 | 43 | 24 | 19 | .558 | — | — | — | — | |
| 21 | Frank Hamblen | 2005 | 39 | 10 | 29 | .256 | — | — | — | — | |
| — | Phil Jackson | 2005–2011 | 492 | 323 | 169 | .657 | 89 | 54 | 35 | .607 | 2 Championships (2009, 2010) One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history |
| 22 | Mike Brown | 2011–2012 | 71 | 42 | 29 | .591 | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | |
| 23 | Bernie Bickerstaff | 2012 | 5 | 4 | 1 | .800 | — | — | — | — | |
| 24 | Mike D'Antoni | 2012–2014 | 154 | 67 | 87 | .435 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | |
| 25 | Byron Scott | 2014–2016 | 164 | 38 | 126 | .227 | — | — | — | — | |
| 26 | Luke Walton | 2016–2019 | 246 | 98 | 148 | .398 | — | — | — | — | |
| 27 | Frank Vogel | 2019–2022 | 225 | 127 | 98 | .564 | 27 | 18 | 9 | .667 | 1 Championship (2020) |
| 28 | Darvin Ham | 2022–2024 | 164 | 90 | 74 | .549 | 16 | 9 | 12 | .429 | 1 NBA Cup (2023) |
| 29 | JJ Redick | 2024–present | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | |
* Former head coach Bill Sharman led the team to the NBA Championship in 1972.
* Jerry West was head coach of the Lakers for three seasons.
* Pat Riley coached the team to four championships in the 1980s.
* Phil Jackson won five championships in two stints coached with the Lakers.
* Former head coach Luke Walton.
* Frank Vogel coached the team to an NBA Championship in 2020