List of Sacramento Kings head coaches

The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was founded as the Rochester Royals by Lester Harrison and his brother Jack Harrison in Rochester, New York in 1945.[1] The Royals won the National Basketball League (NBL) championship during their inaugural season by defeating the Sheboygan Red Skins 3–0.[1] In 1948, the team joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which merged with the NBL to become the NBA a year later.[2] The franchise won its first NBA championship in the 1951 NBA Finals under the coaching of Lester Harrison.[2] The Harrison brothers moved the team to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1957 due to poor attendance.[2] After spending 15 years in Cincinnati, the team was purchased by a group of businessmen from Kansas City, who moved the team to Kansas City and renamed it to the Kings in 1972. The team was briefly named the Kansas City-Omaha Kings from 1972 to 1975 when home games were split between two cities. In 1983, the franchise was bought by a Sacramento-based group, and in 1985, moved to Sacramento, becoming the Sacramento Kings.[2]

There have been 28 head coaches for the franchise since joining the NBA. Rick Adelman is the franchise's all-time leader in regular season games coached (624), regular season games won (395), playoff games coached (69), and playoff games won (34). Phil Johnson and Cotton Fitzsimmons have won NBA Coach of the Year with the Kings, in the 1974–75 and 1978–79 seasons respectively.[3][4] Harrison, Bobby Wanzer, Ed Jucker, Bob Cousy, Draff Young, Jerry Reynolds, Reggie Theus, and Kenny Natt have spent their entire NBA head coaching careers with the Kings.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Wanzer, Tom Marshall, Jack McMahon, Cousy, Larry Staverman, Adelman and Theus formerly played for the Kings.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The Kings are currently owned by Vivek Ranadivé, with former Rockets executive Monte McNair as the general manager and Mike Brown is the head coach.

Key

GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
Win%Winning percentage
#Number of coaches[a]
*Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Kings

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season. The list does not include NBL seasons.

#NameTerm[b]GCWLWin%GCWLWin%AchievementsReference
Regular seasonPlayoffs
1Les Harrison*19481955476296181.620381919.5001 Championship (1951)[19]
2Bobby Wanzer*19551957 (as player-coach)
19571958
23498126.418202.000[5]
3Tom Marshall1958–1959 (as player-coach)
1959–1960
1293594.271[20]
4Charles Wolf19601963239118121.4941679.438[21]
5Jack McMahon19631967321187134.58323815.348[22]
6Ed Jucker*196719691648084.488[6]
7Bob Cousy*1969–1970 (as player-coach)
19701973
350141209.403[7]
8Draff Young*1973303.000[8]
9Phil Johnson19731978340155185.456624.3331974–75 NBA Coach of the Year[3][23]
10Larry Staverman1978451827.400[24]
11Cotton Fitzsimmons19781984492248244.50426917.3461978–79 NBA Coach of the Year[3][25]
12Jack McKinney1984918.111[26]
Phil Johnson1984198720181120.403303.000[23]
13Jerry Reynolds*1987602238.367[9]
14Bill Russell1987–1988581741.293[27]
Jerry Reynolds*198819901103476.309[9]
15Dick Motta1990199116148113.298[28]
16Rex Hughes1991–1992572235.386[29]
17Garry St. Jean19921997395159236.403413.250[30]
18Eddie Jordan19971998973364.340[31]
19Rick Adelman19982006624395229.633693435.493[32]
20Eric Musselman2006–2007823349.402[33]
21Reggie Theus*200720081064462.415[10]
22Kenny Natt*2008–2009581147.190[34]
23Paul Westphal2009201217151120.298[35]
24Keith Smart201220131414893.340[36]
25Michael Malone201320141063967.368[37]
26Tyrone Corbin2014–201528721.250[38]
27George Karl201520161124468.393[39]
28Dave Joerger2016201924698148.398[40]
29Luke Walton201920211616893.422[41]
30Alvin Gentry2021–2022652441.369
31Mike Brown2022–present1649470.573734.4292022–23 NBA Coach of the Year[42]

Notes

  • a A running total of the number of coaches of the Royals/Kings. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once.
  • b Each year is linked to an article about that particular NBA season.

References

General
  • "Sacramento Kings Coach Register". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
Specific