List of Los Angeles Lakers head coaches

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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. [1] 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. [2] 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. [3] In their franchise history, the team has only missed the NBA playoffs 11 times. [4] According to Forbes magazine, the Lakers are the second most valuable basketball franchise in the NBA, valued at approximately US$4.4 billion, surpassed only by the New York Knicks. [5] The Lakers are majority-owned by Jerry Buss's family trust, while Rob Pelinka is the general manager. [6]

Contents

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. [1] The Lakers won four additional NBA championships in the next five years under Kundla. [1] 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. [7] With the Lakers, Sharman, Riley, and Del Harris have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, in 1972, 1990, and 1995 respectively. [8] Kundla, Sharman, Riley, and Jackson have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. [9] [10] [11] [12] 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

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win% Winning percentage
#Number of coaches [a]
*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.

#NameTerm [b] GCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
Minneapolis Lakers
1 John Kundla * 19481958 653390263.597825428.6595 Championships (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954) [7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [13]
[9]
2 George Mikan * 1958 39930.231 [14]
John Kundla * 1958–1959 723339.4581367.462One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [13] [9]
John Castellani * 1959–1960 361125.306 [15]
Jim Pollard 1960 391425.359954.556 [16]
Los Angeles Lakers
Fred Schaus * 19601967 560315245.563713338.465 [17]
Butch van Breda Kolff 19671969 16410757.652332112.636 [18]
Joe Mullaney 19691971 1649470.573301614.533 [19]
Bill Sharman 19711976 410246164.600372215.595 1971–72 NBA Coach of the Year [8]
1 Championship (1972) [7]
[10]
Jerry West * 19761979 246145101.58922814.364 [20]
Jack McKinney 1979 14104.714 [21]
Paul Westhead 19791981 16111150.68919136.6841 Championship (1980) [7] [22]
Pat Riley 19811990 727533194.73314910247.685 1989–90 NBA Coach of the Year [8]
4 Championships (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988) [7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [13]
[11]
Mike Dunleavy 19901992 16410163.616231310.565 [23]
Randy Pfund * 19921994 1466680.452523.400 [24]
Bill Bertka * 1994 211.500 [25]
Magic Johnson * 1994 16511.313 [26]
Del Harris 19941999 340224116.659361719.472 1994–95 NBA Coach of the Year [8] [27]
Bill Bertka * 1999 1101.000 [25]
Kurt Rambis 1999 372413.649835.375 [28]
Phil Jackson 19992004 410287123.700926428.6963 Championships (2000, 2001, 2002) [7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [13]
[12]
Rudy Tomjanovich 2004–2005 432419.558 [29]
Frank Hamblen 2005 391029.256 [30]
Phil Jackson 20052011 492323169.657895435.6072 Championships (2009, 2010) [7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history [13]
[12]
Mike Brown 20112012 714229.5911257.417 [31]
Bernie Bickerstaff 2012 541.800 [32]
Mike D'Antoni 20122014 1546787.435404.000 [33]
Byron Scott 20142016 16438126.227 [34]
Luke Walton 20162019 24698148.398 [35]
Frank Vogel 20192022 22512798.56427189.6671 Championship (2020) [7] [36]
Darvin Ham 20222024 1649074.54916912.429 [37]
JJ Redick 2024–present000000 [38]

Notes

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References

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