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.[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]

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.

  1. ^ a b c "Los Angeles Lakers History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  2. ^ "About STAPLES Center". L.A. Arena Company. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
  3. ^ Reavis, Tracey (2000). The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-50130-9.
  4. ^ "Odom scores 31, Lakers beat Mavericks 112-108 to clinch a playoff berth". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2008.
  5. ^ "The Business of Basketball". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 20, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  6. ^ Markazi, Arash (February 18, 2013). "Buss family won't sell Lakers". ESPNLosAngeles.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference champ was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  9. ^ "John Kundla Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on May 17, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  10. ^ "Bill Sharman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  11. ^ "Pat Riley Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 7, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  12. ^ "Phil Jackson Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2008.