List of NBA championship head coaches

List of NBA championship head coaches
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a major professional basketball league in North America. It was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted its current name at the start of the when it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of 30 teams, of which 29 are located in the United States and one in Canada. In the NBA, a head coach is the highest ranking coach of a coaching staff. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than the assistant coaches.
Former Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson has won eleven NBA championships, the most in NBA history. He won six titles with the Chicago Bulls and five titles with the Lakers, and is one of two coaches who have won multiple championships with more than one team (Pat Riley is the other). Red Auerbach won nine championships with the Boston Celtics and won eight consecutive titles from to . John Kundla, Pat Riley, and current San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich have each won five championships. Kundla won all of his titles with the Lakers, and Popovich has won all of his titles with the Spurs, while Riley won four titles with the Lakers and one with the Miami Heat. Current Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has won four championships, while current Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has won two titles. Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Nick Nurse, Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Vogel, and Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone are the only other active coaches who have won a championship. Carlisle won while with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, Lue with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, Nurse with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, Vogel with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and Malone with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.
Other achievements
Of the championship head coaches, 15 (Auerbach, Larry Brown, Carlisle, Bill Fitch, Tom Heinsohn, Red Holzman, Jackson, Kerr, Dick Motta, Nurse, Popovich, Riley, Rivers, Bill Sharman, and Lenny Wilkens) have won the Coach of the Year Award.
14 (Auerbach, Brown, Chuck Daly, Fitch, Alex Hannum, Heinsohn, Holzman, Jackson, Kundla, Jack Ramsay, Riley, Sharman, Rudy Tomjanovich and Wilkens) have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.
14 (Jones, Russell, Heinsohn, Sharman, Jackson, Cunningham, Riley, Holzman, Costello, Senesky, Jeannette, Carlisle, Kerr, Lue) also won championships as players, with both Buddy Jeannette and Bill Russell having won their only manager titles as player-coach.
Riley, Lue and Paul Westhead are the only three coaches who have led teams to titles having only arrived in mid-season.
Key
List
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the .
See also
NBA Coach of the Year Award
List of NBA champions
List of NBA players with most championships
Notes
Each year is linked to an article about the BAA/NBA Finals in that year.
Each year is linked to an article about that particular BAA/NBA season.
References
Citations
Sources
List
NBA championship head coaches