NBA head coaches with the most wins

Popovich is the NBA's all-time leader in wins. He's been the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs for 27 seasons. They've achieved great success during the Popovich era, winning five NBA championships in the process. The only constant on those teams were Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. Legends like David Robinson and Kawhi Leonard were also in the mix. Coach Pop is in a bit of a slump right now, but he could get his team on the right path with Victor Wembanyama headed to the team in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Nelson was the all-time leader in wins for years until Popovich surpassed him. While Nelson never won a championship, he did change the NBA forever. Nelson's contributions to the game are the Hack-a-Shaq strategy, the point forward and Nellie Ball, which helped give birth to small ball. The three-time NBA Coach of the Year also beat the No. 1 seed Mavericks as a No. 8 seed with the Warriors in the 2007 NBA Playoffs. 

Before becoming a head coach, Nelson won five championships with the Boston Celtics during their dynasty in the 1960s. Many of the teams Nelson coached were very popular, like the Run TMC Golden State Warriors and the Dirk-Nash Dallas Mavericks.

Wilkens' career is one of a kind. He was a Hall of Fame point guard and was even a player-coach in Seattle and Portland for a brief stint. Then, he retired and stuck with coaching. 

In his first experience as a full-time head coach, Wilkens led the Seattle SuperSonics to the 1978 NBA Finals. where they lost to the Washington Bullets. Under Wilken's leadership, the SuperSonics won it all the following year. After his incredible run in Seattle, Wilkens coached the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks. He won everywhere he went.

Wilkens was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and a coach.

Sloan was a two-time All-Star with the Chicago Bulls as a player. He retired in 1976 and got into coaching right away. He started out coaching the Bulls, his former team, but had his best years with the Utah Jazz. He spent 23 seasons in Utah and led Karl Malone and John Stockton to back-to-back Finals appearances. They lost to Michael Jordan's Bulls on both occasions. Sloan finally retired from coaching in 2011 as one of the all-time greats to never win a ring.

Riley was the head coach of the Showtime Lakers that dominated the league in the 1980s. During Riley's run with the Lakers, they went to the NBA Finals seven times and won four of them.

Then, he coached the New York Knicks and led them to the Finals in 1994, losing to the Houston Rockets. 

Riley then moved down south to coach the Miami Heat. In 2006, he won the NBA championship with Shaquille O'Neal and Dwayne Wade. It was his fifth ring as a head coach. He stepped down in 2008 and let Erik Spoelstra take over. 

Since then, Riley has been the Heat's team president and has kept their winning culture going thanks to his decisions, including signing LeBron James and Chris Bosh and winning back-to-back championships with them. If you count his wins as an executive, he'd be much higher on this list.

Karl was a head coach in the league for nearly three decades, primarily with the Seattle SuperSonics and the Denver Nuggets. In Seattle, he coached Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp to the 1996 NBA Finals, where they lost to the 72-10 Bulls in six games. He also coached the AI-Melo Nuggets and the Ray Allen-led Bucks. Karl was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022.

Jackson is the most successful coach in modern NBA history. He won 11 championships (six with the Bulls, five with the Lakers) and had the honor of coaching Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. He won two three-peats with the Bulls and one more with the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. He invented the triangle offense and used Buddhism to motivate his players.  

Brown was a great coach, but he never lasted more than five years with the same team. Regardless, he always led his teams to success, minus a losing-record, one-year stint with the Knicks. During his time with the 76ers, he turned Allen Iverson into an MVP and took the 76ers to the Finals, where the lost to the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. He left Philly for Detroit and won his first NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004. 

Rivers has had two great careers in the Association. First, he was a point guard with the Atlanta Hawks, Spurs, Knicks and Clippers. Then, he took everything he learned as a player and applied it as a head coach. His team-first mentality helped the Boston Celtics win it all in 2008. One of the best teams ever, they were led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo — all future Hall of Famers. He also coached the Los Angeles Clippers during the Lob City era.

Adelman was an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers for many years before he was finally promoted to head coach. He achieved instant success and led the Trail Blazers to two Finals appearances, losing to the Bad Boy Pistons and Jordan's Bulls in the process. In Sacramento, he led the Kings to eight consecutive playoff appearances. Adelman's Kings lost the 2002 Western Conference Finals, and the series has become controversial because of questionable officiating. After the fact, he ended his coaching career with the Timberwolves. Adelman was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.

After an up-and-down run with the Cavaliers in the '70s, Fitch shined with the Celtics, winning his first and only ring in 1981. Fitch was Larry Bird's first coach in the NBA. Eventually, Fitch left to coach the Houston Rockets, where he met his former team in the 1986 Finals and lost in six games. Later on, Fitch struggled to end his coaching career. He couldn't build a winning culture with the Nets or Clippers. 

Auerbach won nine championships as the head coach of the Celtics during the Bill Russell era. At one point, Auerbach and the Celtics won eight championships in a row. When Auerbach got tired of winning, he resigned, became an executive with the Celtics and hired Russell as the Celtics' next head coach. Russell became the first Black head coach in North American sports history. As an executive, Auerbach won seven more championships. 

Motta's teams were known to be scrappy. In 1971, he won the NBA Coach of the Year award after taking the Bulls on a playoff run. He led the Washington Bullets to their first and only championship in 1978. Even with this success, Motta had a fall from grace. He ended his coaching career with a six-year playoff drought. 

As a player, Carlisle won a ring as a reserve on the 1986 Celtics, one of the greatest teams of all time. He learned a lot from playing on that team and has been one of the best coaches in the league for the last two decades. In 2002, he won Coach of the Year with the Detroit Pistons. However, Carlisle is best remembered for his time with the Mavericks, which he turned into a powerhouse. In 2011, Carlisle's Mavericks beat the Miami Heat Big Three in the Finals thanks to Dirk Nowitzki's herculean effort. After a 13-year run in Dallas, Carlisle became the head coach of the Indiana Pacers. 

Ramsay coached at Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia before joining the NBA ranks. The coaching mastermind coached the 76ers, his hometown team, and had a moderately successful run there. However, Ramsay is best known for beating the 76ers in the NBA Finals with the Trail Blazers in 1977. Ramsay's team was down 2-0 in the Finals and managed to come back and beat the 76ers for the franchise first and, so far, only title.

Fitzsimmons was a solid team-builder. He coached the Phoenix Suns in three different stints. He also had a successful run with the Kansas City Kings.

Shue was a five-time All-Star as a point guard during the '60s. Then, he took his hometown Baltimore Bullets to the Finals in 1971 and lost. After his time with the Bullets was up, he took the 76ers to the Finals in 1977 and lost again. Besides those two teams, Shue also coached the Clippers in two separate stints. 

McMillan's been a head coach for nearly 20 years now. He spent the bulk of his coaching career in the Pacific Northwest with the Seattle SuperSonics (where he'd played during his time on the court) and the Portland Trail Blazers. His best season as a coach was in 2021 when he led the Atlanta Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks. 

MacLeod was the Suns' head coach for 14 seasons. He took them to their first trip to the Finals in 1976, where they lost to the Celtics. The Suns rarely missed the playoffs during his tenure.

Holzman won two championships as the head coach of the New York Knicks. He helped Walt Frazier and Willis Reed become Hall of Famers. He coached the Knicks during the best time in franchise history. The Knicks haven't been the same since Holzman left.

Spoelstra took over for Pat Riley as head coach of the Heat in 2008. He won back-to-back championships with the Miami Heat Big Three in 2012 and 2013. After the fact, Spoelstra proved to be more than just a guy holding a coaching clipboard and marker. 

In 2020, he made it to the Finals without the Big Three and lost to the Lakers and LeBron James, his former player. Under Spoelstra, the Heat also made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 and the 2023 NBA Finals. Spoelstra is known for having a high basketball IQ. 

D'Antoni is an offensive guru known for his fast-paced offense. As Suns head coach, he helped Steve Nash win back-to-back MVPs and took the team to two Western Conference Finals appearances. His trademark Seven Seconds or Less offense, was unstoppable. In Houston, he turned James Harden into an MVP and almost beat the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals in 2018. He won Coach of the Year twice (2005, 2017).

Fratello coached the Atlanta Hawks and helped turn Dominique Wilkins into a superstar. He built the team around Wilkins and they became an Eastern Conference powerhouse. He won Coach of the Year in 1986. He also coached the Cavaliers as well. After his coaching career, he had a great second act as an announcer and analyst. 

Saunders is the best coach in the Minnesota Timberwolves history. He helped Kevin Garnett become one of the best power forwards ever. In 2004, Garnett was named league MVP and the Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference Finals. Besides his time in Minnesota, he also had stints in Washington and Detroit, where he went to three Eastern Conference Finals in a row.

Daly built the Bad Boy Pistons and won back-to-back championships. His teams had hustle and were known to play dirty and get into fights. Daly, a defensive mastermind, invented the Jordan Rules and also discovered and drafted Dennis Rodman. Daly and the Pistons took great pride in being the bad guys of the NBA. He was also the head coach of the Dream Team, which famously won the gold medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics.