# List of NBA player-coaches

A player-coach is a member of team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches or as assistant coaches. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), there have been 40 players who also served as their teams' head coaches at the same time. The NBA was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted its current name at the start of the 1949–50 season when it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL). After the salary cap was instituted in 1984–85 season, the NBA has prohibited teams from employing a player-coach. The ruling was established to avoid the possibility that a team would circumvent the cap by signing a player as a player-coach, as coaches' salaries are not counted under the cap.
Ed Sadowski was the first player-coach in the league. In the BAA's inaugural season, he played for the Toronto Huskies and also served as the team's first head coach. Buddy Jeannette was the first player-coach to win the championship; he won the 1948 BAA Finals with the Baltimore Bullets. Bill Russell is the only other player-coach who has won the championship, as well as the only player-coach to win multiple championships. In 1966, he took over the Boston Celtics' head coaching duties from Red Auerbach, becoming the first African American head coach in the league. He served as the Celtics' player-coach for three seasons, winning two consecutive NBA championships in 1968 and 1969. Dave DeBusschere became the youngest head coach in the league's history when he was appointed as the Detroit Pistons' player-coach at the age of 24 in 1964. He held the position for three seasons before returning to a full-time player in 1967. Dave Cowens is the last player-coach in the league. He coached the Celtics in the 1978–79 season before relinquishing his coaching duty to focus on his playing career.
Richie Guerin had coached 372 games as a player-coach, the most among the other player-coaches. He was the player-coach of the St. Louis / Atlanta Hawks for five seasons, from 1964 to 1967 and from 1968 to 1970. Before the 1967–68 season, he retired from playing to become a full-time head coach. However, he came back from retirement to play in the following two seasons while still serving as the Hawks' head coach. Lenny Wilkens, who is in second place for highest number of games as a player-coach, was the only player-coach who has been employed by more than one team. He spent three seasons as the Seattle SuperSonics' player-coach and one season as the Portland Trail Blazers' player-coach. He is the only player-coach (along with Russell) who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach. Other than Wilkens, twelve player-coaches have been inducted as players while two player-coaches have been inducted as coaches. The Coach of the Year Award was never won by a player-coach.
Wilkens went on to become the longest-tenured head coach in the league. In addition to 4 seasons as a player-coach, he spent another 28 seasons as a head coach, winning an NBA championship in 1979. San Francisco Warriors player-coach Al Attles retired from playing duty in 1971, but continued to coach the Warriors for another 12 seasons, leading them to an NBA championship in 1975. Alex Hannum, Red Holzman and Kevin Loughery, who served as player-coaches for less than a season, had a lengthy coaching career in the NBA which lasted more than 10 seasons. Hannum spent 11 seasons as a full-time head coach, winning two NBA championships with two different teams. Holzman coached the Hawks for 4 seasons, including a season as a player-coach, and the New York Knicks for 14 seasons. He led the latter to two NBA championships. Loughery served as the head coach for six NBA teams during his 18-year coaching career, including a year as a player-coach. Wilkens and Holzman were named among the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. Wilkens, along with Bob Cousy, Dave Cowens, Dave DeBusschere, Bob Pettit, Bill Russell and Dolph Schayes, were named to the list of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, which was also announced at the league's 50th anniversary.

## Key

| Yrs | Number of years coached |
| G | Games coached |
| W | Wins |
| L | Losses |
| Win% | Winning percentage |
| ^ | Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player |
| * | Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
| ^* | Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach |

## Player-coaches

| Player-coach | Team(s) played and coached | Years | G | W | L | Win% | G | W | L | Win% | Championship(s) won | Honor(s) and award(s) won |
| Player-coach | Team(s) played and coached | Years | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | | | Championship(s) won | Honor(s) and award(s) won | Ref(s). |
| Richie Guerin^ | St. Louis Hawks Atlanta Hawks | 1964–1967 1968–1970 | 372 | 199 | 173 | .535 | 43 | 21 | 22 | .488 | None | All-Star Game head coach (1969, 1970) |
| Lenny Wilkens^* | Seattle SuperSonics Portland Trail Blazers | 1969–1972 1974–1975 | 328 | 159 | 169 | .485 | — | — | — | — | None | All-Star (1969, 1971) All-Star Game MVP (1971) |
| Paul Seymour | Syracuse Nationals | 1956–1960 | 279 | 155 | 124 | .556 | 20 | 9 | 11 | .450 | None | None |
| Al Cervi^ | Syracuse Nationals | 1949–1953 | 267 | 170 | 90 | .637 | 27 | 13 | 14 | .481 | None | All-NBA Team (1950) All-Star Game head coach (1952) |
| Bill Russell^* | Boston Celtics | 1966–1969 | 245 | 162 | 83 | .661 | 46 | 28 | 16 | .609 | 2 (1968, 1969) | All-NBA Team (1968, 1969) All-Defensive Team (1969) All-Star (1967, 1968, 1969) |
| Dave DeBusschere^ | Detroit Pistons | 1964–1967 | 222 | 79 | 143 | .356 | — | — | — | — | None | All-Star (1966, 1967) |
| Buddy Jeannette^ | Baltimore Bullets | 1947–1950 | 176 | 82 | 94 | .466 | 15 | 10 | 5 | .667 | 1 (1948) | All-BAA Team (1948) |
| Bobby Wanzer^ | Rochester Royals | 1955–1957 | 144 | 62 | 82 | .431 | — | — | — | — | None | All-Star (1956) All-Star Game head coach (1957) |
| Carl Braun | New York Knicks | 1959–1961 | 127 | 40 | 87 | .315 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Al Attles | San Francisco Warriors | 1970–1971 | 112 | 49 | 63 | .438 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | None | None |
| Bob Cousy^ | Cincinnati Royals | 1969–1970 | 82 | 36 | 46 | .439 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Dolph Schayes^ | Philadelphia 76ers | 1963–1964 | 80 | 34 | 46 | .425 | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | None | None |
| Andrew Levane | Milwaukee Hawks | 1952–1953 | 71 | 27 | 44 | .380 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Bob Feerick | Washington Capitols | 1949–1950 | 68 | 32 | 36 | .471 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | None | None |
| Dave Cowens^ | Boston Celtics | 1978–1979 | 68 | 27 | 41 | .397 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Ed Macauley^ | St. Louis Hawks | 1958–1959 | 62 | 43 | 19 | .694 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | None | All-Star Game head coach (1959) |
| Jimmy Darden | Denver Nuggets | 1949–1950 | 62 | 51 | 41 | .177 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Grady Lewis | St. Louis Bombers | 1948–1949 | 60 | 29 | 31 | .483 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | None | None |
| Curly Armstrong | Fort Wayne Pistons | 1948–1949 | 54 | 22 | 32 | .407 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Tom Marshall | Cincinnati Royals | 1958–1959 | 54 | 16 | 38 | .296 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Mike Todorovich | Tri-Cities Blackhawks | 1950–1951 | 42 | 14 | 28 | .333 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Bobby Leonard | Chicago Zephyrs | 1962–1963 | 42 | 13 | 29 | .310 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Dick McGuire^ | Detroit Pistons | 1959–1960 | 41 | 17 | 24 | .415 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | None | None |
| Fred Scolari | Baltimore Bullets | 1951–1952 | 39 | 12 | 27 | .308 | — | — | — | — | None | All-Star (1952) |
| Howie Schultz | Anderson Packers | 1949–1950 | 35 | 21 | 14 | .600 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Bones McKinney | Washington Capitols | 1950–1951 | 35 | 10 | 25 | .286 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Charley Shipp | Waterloo Hawks | 1949–1950 | 35 | 8 | 27 | .229 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Alex Hannum* | St. Louis Hawks | 1957 | 31 | 15 | 16 | .484 | 12 | 8 | 4 | .667 | None | None |
| Kevin Loughery | Philadelphia 76ers | 1973 | 31 | 5 | 26 | .161 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Walt Budko | Baltimore Bullets | 1951 | 29 | 10 | 19 | .345 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Nat Hickey | Providence Steamrollers | 1948 | 29 | 4 | 25 | .138 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Jack Smiley | Waterloo Hawks | 1950 | 27 | 11 | 16 | .407 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Red Holzman* | Milwaukee Hawks | 1954 | 26 | 10 | 16 | .385 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Bruce Hale | Indianapolis Jets | 1948 | 17 | 4 | 13 | .235 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Ed Sadowski | Toronto Huskies | 1946 | 12 | 3 | 9 | .250 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Slater Martin^ | St. Louis Hawks | 1957 | 8 | 5 | 3 | .625 | — | — | — | — | None | All-NBA Team (1957) All-Star (1957) |
| Bob Pettit^ | St. Louis Hawks | 1962 | 6 | 4 | 2 | .667 | — | — | — | — | None | All-NBA Team (1962) All-Star (1962) All-Star Game MVP (1962) |
| Johnny Logan | Tri-Cities Blackhawks | 1950 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Dick Fitzgerald | Toronto Huskies | 1946 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | — | — | — | — | None | None |
| Terry Dischinger | Detroit Pistons | 1971 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | — | — | — | — | None | None |