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The Los Angeles Lakers is one of two NBA teams tied for the most championship titles in the league's history. The Lakers, along with the Boston Celtics, both have a combined number of 34 titles (17 each) of a total of 74 championships. The Lakers are favorites to win the 2021-22 NBA championship and possibly edge out the Celtics as the team with the most championship titles, with their super team containing LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the newly acquired Russell Westbrook.
The LA Lakers' 17 championships titles can be accredited to six coaches in all 74 seasons they have featured in the NBA. These coaches are part and parcel of the great history that exists within the Lakers organization. Let's talk about the top five coaches in the history of the franchise.
Los Angeles Lakers top five all-time best coaches
#5 Frank Vogel
Frank Vogel made his way to the LA Lakers as head coach in the 2019-20 NBA season after spending six seasons coaching the Indiana Pacers and two seasons with the Orlando Magic. He had earlier been the assistant coach to Jim O'Brien of the Boston Celtics in 2001-2004, before joining the Philadelphia 76ers for a year and making his way to the Pacers.
In 2007, Jim O'Brien was made the head coach of the Pacers and he called his right-hand man, Vogel. Vogel spent three seasons as the assistant coach of the Pacers before he was upgraded to the head coach position in the 2010-2011 NBA season.
In his debut season as the LA Lakers head coach, he finished 1st in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference with a 52-19 record, then went on to win the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat (4-2). His second season was met with some bad luck as he placed third in the Pacific Division, 7th in the Western Conference with a 42-30 record and crashed out of the 1st round of the Playoffs. He could win his second title with the franchise in the coming season as the Lakers are one of the favorites to clinch the title.
#4 Bill Sharman
Bill Sharman started off his coaching career in the NBA as the head coach of the then San Francisco Warriors (now known as the Golden State Warriors). After two seasons with the Warriors and a few years in the ABA, he made his way to the LA Lakers in 1971. Sharman spent most of his coaching career with the Lakers (six seasons).
Sharman won the LA Lakers' sixth championship title in the 1971-72 NBA season after a 17-year drought. It is imperative to note that this was his first season with the team, having just taken over from Joe Mullaney. He finished 1st in the NBA Pacific Division and Western Conference, then defeated the New York Knicks with a 4-1 victory. He still holds the record of having the best record in franchise history, 69-13.
His remaining seasons with the team weren't as successful as when he won the Western Conference, took the team to the finals the following season but suffered a defeat to the Knicks and he never made it that far for the entirety of his time with the LA Lakers. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1976 and a coach in 2004.
#3 Pat Riley
Pat Riley took over the team from the controversial Paul Westhead for the 1981-82 NBA season. Westhead had only taken the team through 11 games when he was fired and replaced by Riley, who had a 50-21 record at the end of the season, finishing 1st in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference. Riley took the L.A. Lakers championship tally to 8 after triumphing over the 76ers in the NBA Finals (4-2).
Riles took the team to the NBA Finals in the two consecutive seasons after his debut but lost both times, a clean sweep to the 76ers and a 3-4 defeat to the Celtics, respectively. He, however, won three more championships for the franchise in 1985, 1987 and 1988. In his nine-year stay with the LA Lakers, he took the team to seven NBA Finals and won four times, while he lost three times. It was the most NBA Finals achieved by a Lakers coach, who holds the title alongside Phil Jackson. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 as a coach.
#2 John Kundla
John Kundla was the first head coach in the history of the franchise. He spent 11 years coaching the then Minneapolis Lakers and was key to solidifying and positioning the Lakers as the Big Market team it is today. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 as a coach for his contribution to the game.
Of his first five seasons with the Lakers, Kundla won the NBA championship title four times, winning his first two seasons, crashing out of the Western Conference Finals, and winning the next three seasons consecutively. After which he had a dry spell and lost the NBA Finals, two Western Conference Finals and a semi.
#1 Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson is the greatest NBA coach in the history of the league, with 11 championship titles and a 70% win rate. He was the fastest coach to attain the 900th win mark and was instrumental in the growth of tons of NBA legends we are familiar with today, including Michael Jordan, Scott Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, to name a few.
Jackson made his way to the Lakers as an already well-decorated coach, having won 6 championship titles with the Chicago Bulls in his nine seasons with the Bulls. He brought the Lakers back to the championship title tally in his first season after they had not won a title in 11 years. He won the title in his first three seasons with the Lakers consecutively, thereby winning the title for six seasons straight (three seasons earlier with the Bulls), a feat no one has yet to achieve.
He won two more NBA championship titles for the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, before retiring in 2012. The Zen Master was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.
Guess the Lakers players!
