At any given time there are NBA head coaches at risk of getting fired with no shortage of intriguing candidates to fill those vacancies. Justified or not, few careers come with less job security than being the head coach of a professional sports team.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still coaches who’ve racked up lengthy tenures at the helm of a single organization. Below we’ve tracked each team’s coaching gig, marking the year that each coach took the reins.
For the purposes of our head coaching list, we’ve excluded interim coaches that were in their position for less than a season, this includes coaches like Mike Miller and Jacque Vaughn, who took over for the Knicks and Nets respectively in 2019-20 but were never locked in for anything beyond that.
List of NBA Head Coaches
Team | Last Coach | Current Coach |
ATL | Mike Budenholzer (2013) | Lloyd Pierce (2018) |
BOS | Doc Rivers (2004) | Brad Stevens (2013) |
BRO | Kenny Atkinson (2016) | Steve Nash (2020) |
CHA | Steve Clifford (2014) | James Borrego (2018) |
CHI | Jim Boylen (2018) | Billy Donovan (2020) |
CLE | John Beilein (2019) | J.B. Bickerstaff (2020) |
DAL | Avery Johnson (2005) | Rick Carlisle (2008) |
DEN | Brian Shaw (2013) | Michael Malone (2015) |
DET | Stan Van Gundy (2014) | Dwane Casey (2018) |
GSW | Mark Jackson (2011) | Steve Kerr (2014) |
HOU | Mike D’Antoni (2016) | Stephen Silas (2020) |
IND | Nate McMillan (2016) | Nate Bjorkgren (2020) |
LAC | Doc Rivers (2013) | Ty Lue (2020) |
LAL | Luke Walton (2016) | Frank Vogel (2019) |
MEM | J.B. Bickerstaff (2017) | Taylor Jenkins (2019) |
MIA | Pat Riley (2005) | Erik Spoelstra (2008) |
MIL | Jason Kidd (2014) | Mike Budenholzer (2018) |
MIN | Tim Thibodeau (2016) | Ryan Saunders (2019) |
NOP | Alvin Gentry (2015) | Stan Van Gundy (2020) |
NYK | David Fizdale (2018) | Tom Thibodeau (2020) |
OKC | Billy Donovan (2015) | Mark Daigneault (2020) |
ORL | Frank Vogel (2016) | Steve Clifford (2018) |
PHI | Brett Brown (2013) | Doc Rivers (2020) |
PHO | Igor Kokoskov (2018) | Monty Williams (2019) |
POR | Nate McMillan (2005) | Terry Stotts (2012) |
SAC | Dave Joerger (2016) | Luke Walton (2019) |
SAS | Bob Hill (1996) | Gregg Popovich (2016) |
TOR | Dwane Casey (2011) | Nick Nurse (2018) |
UTA | Tyrone Corbin (2011) | Quin Snyder (2014) |
WAS | Randy Wittman (2016) | Scott Brooks (2016) |
Head Coaching Vacancies
- Knicks (filled by Tom Thibodeau) – The Knicks promoted Mike Miller from within to coach the team on an interim basis after the firing of David Fizdale early in the 2019-20 campaign but did not commit to bringing him back.
- Nets (filled by Steve Nash) – While the team has temporarily employed Jacque Vaughn on an interim basis, they’ve been looking for an official head coach since Kenny Atkinson was fired in the middle of the 2019-20 season.
- Bulls (filled by Billy Donovan) – At the conclusion of the 2019-20 regular season, the Bulls parted ways with Jim Boylen.
- Pelicans (filled by Stan Van Gundy) – At the conclusion of the 2019-20 regular season, the Pels dismissed Alvin Gentry.
- Sixers (filled by Doc Rivers) – At the conclusion of their first-round series loss, the Sixers fired Brett Brown.
- Pacers (filled by Nate Bjorkgren) – At the conclusion of their first-round series loss, the Pacers dismissed Nate McMillan.
- Thunder (filled by Mark Daigneault) – At the conclusion of their first-round series loss, the Thunder parted ways with Billy Donovan.
- Rockets (filled by Stephen Silas) – At the conclusion of their second-round series loss, the Rockets revealed that Mike D’Antoni would not be extended.
- Clippers (filled by Ty Lue) – At the conclusion of their second-round series loss, the Clippers moved on from Doc Rivers.
Notable NBA Coaching Free Agents
Coach | Linked To |
Jason Kidd | N/A |
Kenny Atkinson | N/A |
Ime Udoka | N/A |
Jacque Vaughn | N/A |
John Lucas | N/A |
Mike D’Antoni | N/A |
Jeff Van Gundy | N/A |
Sam Cassell | N/A |
Dave Joerger | N/A |
Becky Hammon | N/A |
Mike Miller | N/A |
Mike Brown | N/A |
Mike Woodson | N/A |
Pat Delaney | N/A |
Chris Fleming | N/A |
Will Hardy | N/A |
Jamahl Mosley | N/A |
Darvin Ham | N/A |
Wes Unseld Jr. | N/A |
Adrian Griffin | N/A |
David Vanterpool | N/A |
Dan Craig | N/A |
Chris Quinn | N/A |
Charles Lee | N/A |
Nate Tibbetts | N/A |
Did I miss a candidate reportedly linked to a job opening? Find me on Twitter @AustinKent