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While head coaches are making nowhere near the money that the biggest stars of the league do, coaching in the NBA certainly pays a whole lot better than a real job. Picture it like this: you're in an executive role in an industry where hundreds of millions of dollars are spent as wages for just over 50 people.
A disproportionately large part falls to the players, who're the reason the wages for everyone else exist in the first place, but the few millions left to go around for the front office executives and coaches is usually ample for a job of that magnitude.
Here, we have compiled a list of reportedly the 10 biggest contracts handed out to coaches in NBA history. Do keep in mind that teams can and have chosen to keep coaching contracts clear of the public eye, but we've done the best we can, and the figures we quote in the article are all obtained from reputed sources like ESPN and TNT.
#10 Steve Kerr - $5 million+
Kerr has now piloted the Warriors to three championships, came 48 minutes away from a fourth, and had the best regular season in the history of the sport. Yet, he’s just completed the fourth year of a $25 million deal. Kerr’s average salary is $5 million per year. That’s enough to pay the considerable rent in the outrageously overpriced Bay Area, but it ain’t even in the top-five of coaches in the league.
Which is why when news of the Warriors offering and Steve Kerr accepting a new, undisclosed offer that would make him a top-5 coach by salary in the league from the 2019-20 season onwards broke, it was hardly of any surprise to anyone at all. Kerr has stated his desire to coach for over a decade in the past, and given the kind of roster he has to work with and one of the best front offices in all of sports, the Warriors look set to continue for a long time with the same personnel steering the way.
#9 Billy Donovan - $6 million
Making his name as the coach for the Gators for their back-to-back NCAA championship runs in 2006 and 2007, Billy Donovan's first bow in the NBA is his current gig with the Oklahoma City Thunder, reported to be worth $30 million over 5 seasons (the contract ends after the 2019-20 season).
While many critics lament his poor lineup management, his influence on the Thunder's defense has been obvious over the past couple of seasons. Having the personnel for an excellent defensive scheme at every position has helped the Thunder climb to the top of the league's defensive efficiency charts, and the likes of Paul George, Steven Adams and Russell Westbrook show up at the top of a variety of defensive stats.
The future of Donovan's NBA coaching career may be fully dependent on this season.
#8 Dwane Casey
Dwane Casey has had 2 head coaching roles in the NBA prior to his current job. He was first appointed as the Minnesota Timberwolves' head coach from 2005 to 2007 following over a decade as an assistant coach with the SuperSonics. His next job, following an assistant role to Rick Carlisle from 2008-11, was with the Raptors for 7 seasons starting in 2011.
The Pistons hired the former Toronto Raptors coach a couple of weeks into the start of the 2018-19 NBA season. The contract is reportedly a five-year deal averaging $7 million per season with the opportunity for incentives, similar to the five-year, $35-million deal the Pistons reached with Stan Van Gundy in 2014.
#7 Tyronn Lue - $7 million
Despite being a staple of NBA Twitter memes during the time he was in the role, Tyronn Lue was actually a pretty major part of the Cleveland Cavaliers' only title in franchise history. Appointed as the head coach following David Blatt's firing midway through the 2015-16 season, Lue was responsible for the Cavs' defensive turnaround that season, and his lineup management was praised as he outmaneuvered Steve Kerr in the final 3 games of the 2016 NBA Finals.
That led to him earning a 5-year, $35 million contract that many people saw as an overpay. The presence of LeBron James allowed Lue to coach the Cavs to two more Finals appearances, but James' departure to the Los Angeles Lakers last summer meant curtains for Lue's job security.
He was fired at the start of this season following an 0-6 start for the Cavs to kick the season off.
#6 Rick Carlisle - $7 million
One of the few people on the planet to have won the NBA championship in both playing and coaching roles, Rick Carlisle has always been one of the very best head coaches in the league alongside Greg Popovich since he first assumed that role for the Detroit Pistons in 2001.
He won Coach of the Year honors in his first season coaching the franchise, and led them to consecutive 50-32 records before Larry Brown's hiring.
In his first season with the Pacers (who he worked for from 2003-07), he led Indiana to one of their few 60-win seasons as a franchise as well as the #1 seed in the entire league. The Malice in the Palace essentially put paid to the Pacers' hopes of running for the NBA title for a long period of time, but Carlisle continued to showcase his exemplary coaching skills.
Appointed as the Mavericks' head coach for the first time in 2008, the 59-year-old was in charge of the franchise's only NBA title (won in 2011). He received a contract extension worth $35 million over 5 seasons from the 2016-17 season onwards, making him the highest-paid head coach with an executive role in the league.
#5 Stan van Gundy - $7 million
With a 37-year background as a basketball coach, Stan van Gundy has indeed been associated with the sport at a high level for most of his life. van Gundy's journey in the NBA began with the Miami Heat organization, who recruited him as an assistant in the 1994-95 season.
9 years into his job, with the position left vacant following a season spent tanking to obtain generational talent, the Heat promoted him to the head coaching position in 2003. In his first season in charge, the Heat made the playoffs once again, making it to a second-round loss against the league-leading Pacers.
van Gundy made the All-Star game as a head coach the following year, but the acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal had made Miami a real contender. This tempted Riley into coveting the head coaching job, and midway in the 2005-06 season, van Gundy resigned. His next job was with the Orlando Magic, whom he led to the 2009 NBA Finals and the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals building his roster around Dwight Howard.
van Gundy earned his major paycheck in his last job, which was as a president-cum-head coach role for the Pistons until the end of last season when he was fired.
#4 Scott Brooks - $7 million
A former NBA player for 10 seasons, during which he won 2 championships with Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets, Brooks' first taste of coaching came as an assistant coach for the LA Stars.
His first bow in the NBA came as an assistant coach on the Denver Nuggets' staff for 3 seasons (2003-06). A one-year spell as an assistant for the Sacramento Kings preceded his eventual appointment to the same role with the Sonics.
Brooks was announced as the head coach for the Sonics, now rebranded as the Oklahoma City Thunder, in 2008. He coached the Thunder for 7 seasons, in 5 of which they made the playoffs, including 3 Conference Finals appearances and one Finals loss to the Miami Heatles.
The Wizards appointed him as their head coach in 2016 at his current $7 million salary.
#3 Tom Thibodeau - $8 million
One of the most intense characters ever associated with the NBA, Thibodeau's story in basketball is one of deep love, commitment and hard work. Working in a variety of coaching roles starting in 1981 with Salem State University, Thibodeau worked his way up to the point when he was appointed as an assistant coach with expansion team Minnesota, incidentally.
2-year spells with the Spurs and the 76ers followed in roughly the same capacity, before Jeff van Gundy invited him to join forces with the Knicks. 8 years of relative success with the Knicks led to him being appointed by Daryl Morey as the Houston Rockets' defensive guru from 2004-07.
Their success in that department (the Rockets ranked among the top 10 defenses in the league during Thibodeau's time) was enough for Doc Rivers and the Celtics to poach him in 2007 as an associate head coach. The Celtics' league-best defense for the 3-year spell from 2007 to 2010 was largely a product of Thibs' influence.
On June 2, 2010, Thibodeau interviewed with and was confirmed as the Bulls' head coach shortly after. Thibodeau was named the NBA Coach of the Year after tying the record for most wins by a rookie head coach with 62 in the season that followed. He also led the Bulls to their first 50-win season and first division title since the Michael Jordan era.
5 years with the Bulls saw them make the playoffs every single season before Thibs encountered some friction with the front office, leading to him getting fired. He took a break from coaching activity for a year, before the Timberwolves handed him a coach-cum-executive role, which gave him the payday we refer to here.
#2 Doc Rivers - $10 million
Glenn Rivers spent his NBA career mostly as a reserve point guard. During his 13 seasons in the league, Rivers played for the Atlanta Hawks (who drafted him), the Clippers, the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs before retiring in 1996.
He began his coaching career in 1999 with the Orlando Magic which he coached for four seasons and took home the Coach of the Year award in 2000 - just his first season as a full-time head coach. He was sacked following a lacklustre start for the Magic in 2003-04, but found a home with the Boston Celtics the following season.
It was here that he won his first and only championship thus far, following a trade bringing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to partner with his franchise player Paul Pierce. The quartet, along with Rondo, parted ways in 2013 when the Celtics traded Garnett and Pierce to the Nets in exchange for 6 million draft picks from Billy King and sent Rivers to the Clippers in another trade the same offseason.
Rivers has been moderately successful during his time with the Clippers, as his teams have grappled with playoff heartbreaks and injuries and dealt with considerable roster turnover. During his time in a dual executive-coach role, Rivers earned a reported $10 million a year.
#1 Gregg Popovich - $10 million
The head coach and resident saint of the San Antonio Spurs organization, if in a very curt, organized manner, Gregg Popovich has been the source of all the success that makes for the best small market story in NBA lore. He celebrated his 1222nd win earlier this month, making him 3rd all-time in wins coached during the regular season.
Taking over the team as head coach in 1996-97, which was the last season the Spurs didn't make the playoffs, Popovich has led San Antonio to 20 straight 50-win-pace seasons. 5 of those chequered years have culminated in championships during Tim Duncan's heyday, but the modern Spurs embody the same spirit on both ends of the floor even today thanks to Popovich's GOAT-level player development.
Popovich's last disclosed salary, given his dual role as team executive and head coach, was pegged at $11 million. 2019-20 is rumoured to be his final season, as it coincides with the closure of his contract.
Pop is also in charge of the Team USA Basketball program until the next Olympics, and richly deserves his status as the highest paid NBA coach of all time.
