The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. formerly known as the Detroit Gems from 1947 to 1948 and 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]

The franchise has had 31 head coaches, including 29 since joining the NBA. The franchise's first head coach was Joel Mason, while its first coach in the NBA was John Kundla, who coached for 12 seasons with the Lakers in the NBL, BAA and NBA and winning 6 combined NBL/BAA/NBA championships.[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 BAA/NBA 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.

Key

GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
Win% Winning percentage
# Number of coaches[a]
* Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Lakers
† Elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach
*† Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and
spent entire coaching career with the Lakers

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the 2024–25 season.

NBL

# Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
Detroit Gems
1 Joel Mason 1946–1947 16 3 13 .188 — — — — [13]
2 Fred Campbell 1947 28 1 27 .004 — — — — [13]
Minneapolis Lakers
3 John Kundla*† 1947–1948 60 43 17 .717 10 8 2 .800 1 Championship (1948)
1 WPBT championship (1948) 		[13]

BAA/NBA

# Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
Minneapolis Lakers
1 John Kundla*† 1948–1957 653 390 263 .597 82 54 28 .659 5 Championships (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954)[7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[14] 		[9]
2 George Mikan* 1957–1958 39 9 30 .231 — — — — [15]
— John Kundla*† 1958–1959 72 33 39 .458 13 6 7 .462 One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[14] [9]
3 John Castellani* 1959–1960 36 11 25 .306 — — — — [16]
4 Jim Pollard 1960 39 14 25 .359 9 5 4 .556 [17]
Los Angeles Lakers
5 Fred Schaus* 1960–1967 560 315 245 .563 71 33 38 .465 [18]
6 Butch van Breda Kolff 1967–1969 164 107 57 .652 33 21 12 .636 [19]
7 Joe Mullaney 1969–1971 164 94 70 .573 30 16 14 .533 [20]
8 Bill Sharman† 1971–1976 410 246 164 .600 37 22 15 .595 1971–72 NBA Coach of the Year[8]
1 Championship (1972)[7] 		[10]
9 Jerry West* 1976–1979 246 145 101 .589 22 8 14 .364 [21]
10 Jack McKinney 1979 14 10 4 .714 — — — — [22]
11 Paul Westhead 1979–1981 161 111 50 .689 19 13 6 .684 1 Championship (1980)[7] [23]
12 Pat Riley 1981–1990 727 533 194 .733 149 102 47 .685 1989–90 NBA Coach of the Year[8]
4 Championships (1982, 1985, 1987, 1988)[7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[14] 		[11]
13 Mike Dunleavy 1990–1992 164 101 63 .616 23 13 10 .565 McDonald's Open winner (1991) [24]
14 Randy Pfund* 1992–1994 146 66 80 .452 5 2 3 .400 [25]
15 Bill Bertka* 1994 2 1 1 .500 — — — — [26]
16 Magic Johnson* 1994 16 5 11 .313 — — — — [27]
17 Del Harris 1994–1999 340 224 116 .659 36 17 19 .472 1994–95 NBA Coach of the Year[8] [28]
— Bill Bertka* 1999 1 1 0 1.000 — — — — [26]
18 Kurt Rambis 1999 37 24 13 .649 8 3 5 .375 [29]
19 Phil Jackson 1999–2004 410 287 123 .700 92 64 28 .696 3 Championships (2000, 2001, 2002)[7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[14] 		[12]
20 Rudy Tomjanovich 2004–2005 43 24 19 .558 — — — — [30]
21 Frank Hamblen 2005 39 10 29 .256 — — — — [31]
— Phil Jackson 2005–2011 492 323 169 .657 89 54 35 .607 2 Championships (2009, 2010)[7]
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history[14] 		[12]
22 Mike Brown 2011–2012 71 42 29 .591 12 5 7 .417 [32]
23 Bernie Bickerstaff 2012 5 4 1 .800 — — — — [33]
24 Mike D'Antoni 2012–2014 154 67 87 .435 4 0 4 .000 [34]
25 Byron Scott 2014–2016 164 38 126 .227 — — — — [35]
26 Luke Walton 2016–2019 246 98 148 .398 — — — — [36]
27 Frank Vogel 2019–2022 225 127 98 .564 27 18 9 .667 1 Championship (2020)[7] [37]
28 Darvin Ham 2022–2024 164 90 74 .549 16 9 12 .429 1 NBA Cup (2023) [38]
29 JJ Redick 2024–present 82 50 32 .610 5 1 4 .200 [39]

Notes

References

General
Specific
  1. "Los Angeles Lakers History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012.
  2. "About STAPLES Center". L.A. Arena Company. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011.
  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. Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015.
  5. "The Business of Basketball". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 20, 2012.
  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.
  7. "NBA Finals: All-Time Champions". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017.
  8. "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010.
  9. "John Kundla Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on May 17, 2009.
  10. "Bill Sharman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  11. "Pat Riley Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 7, 2011.
  12. "Phil Jackson Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011.
  13. Murry R. Nelson (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 (1st ed.). McFarland. ISBN 978-0786453610.
  14. "Top 10 Coaches in NBA History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on January 19, 2010.
  15. "George Mikan Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 2, 2008.
  16. "John Castellani Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 1, 2008.
  17. "Jim Pollard Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 24, 2011.
  18. "Fred Schaus Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 1, 2008.
  19. "Butch Van Breda Kolff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013.
  20. "Joe Mullaney Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 1, 2011.
  21. "Jerry West Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012.
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  25. "Randy Pfund Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 1, 2008.
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  28. "Del Harris Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011.
  29. "Kurt Rambis Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 2, 2008.
  30. "Rudy Tomjanovich Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 20, 2019.
  31. "Frank Hamblem Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 1, 2008.
  32. "Mike Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010.
  33. "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
  34. "Mike D'Antoni Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011.
  35. "Byron Scott Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 20, 2011.
  36. "Luke Walton Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019.
  37. "Frank Vogel Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
  38. "Darvin Ham Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021.
  39. "Lakers hiring Redick as new coach, sources say". ESPN.com. 2024-06-20.