Highest Paid NBA Head Coach

The highest-paid NBA head coaches are all former champions. Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings is the highest-paid coach without a title to his name.

Like their players, coaching salaries continue to increase. Monty Williams’ record-breaking deal set a new standard for what the top coaches can reasonably expect to earn.

According to Front Office Sports, all 30 coaches are on at least $4 million per year, but only five earn less than $7 million.

Mike Budenholzer — $10 million

The Phoenix Suns swapped Frank Vogel for Mike Budenholzer after suffering a first-round sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. A champion with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, Budenholzer is a two-time Coach of the Year and has won over 60% of his regular season games.

Improving the shot distribution will be Budenholzer’s key challenge for the mid-range-heavy Suns. It will be fascinating to see how he fares in Phoenix, who have disappointed after acquiring Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

Doc Rivers — $10 million

The Bucks’ decision to hire Adrian Griffin didn’t work out. Griffin was sacked halfway through the 2023-24 season, with Doc Rivers hired as his replacement.

Rivers, who coached the Boston Celtics to the NBA title in 2007-08, has the eighth-most wins in NBA history. He has also been on the wrong side of some playoff shocks and failed to reach the Conference Finals during his spell with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Tyronn Lue — $14 million

Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue was Rivers’ assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers before succeeding Rivers as head coach. Lue rejected offers from the Los Angeles Lakers before joining the Clips but might be regretting that decision after several injury-disrupted seasons.

Lue is an excellent defensive coach with a reputation for making impactful in-game adjustments. There’s only so much he can do if Kawhi Leonard is consistently unavailable, though.

Erik Spoelstra — $15 million

Erik Spoelstra has remarkably never won Coach of the Year, despite being seen as one of the league’s elite coaches for over a decade. Spoelstra and the Miami Heat player development machine has seen the franchise be consistently competitive.

Only two other active coaches have won multiple titles. They happen to be the coaches with larger salaries than Spoelstra. Still going strong and with no indication he will leave the Heat any time soon, look for the former video coordinator to climb into the top five in career wins.

Gregg Popovich — $16 million

One of three coaches, along with Spoelstra and Al Attles to have coached over 400 career games and only coached one team, Gregg Popovich has won the most career regular season games, the third-most career playoff games, and sits joint-third with five titles.

Rumours have lingered for years that Popovich is on the cusp of retirement. The rebuild forced by the Kawhi Leonard trade looked like it might have forced the future Hall of Famer to hang up his clipboard. Winning the draft lottery for Victor Wembanyama looks to have breathed new life into his coaching career.

Steve Kerr — $17.5 million

Just five coaches can beat Steve Kerr’s tally of four titles. He has the best postseason winning percentage of all-time and was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2016.

Kerr can be criticised for how stubbornly committed he is to his motion offence. Yes, he has benefited from coaching Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant, but a great coach can only do so much without great players.

Kerr built the Golden State Warriors dynasty and managed to reinvent the team for a fourth title in 2022 with Thompson coming off injuries and a new-look rotation around the big three.