Basketball

The 5 Longest-Tenured Coaches in the NBA Right Now

As we approach tip-off for the 2024-25 NBA season, coaches like Jordi Fernandez, Charles Lee, JB Bickerstaff, and others will hope to hit the ground running with their new teams. There is always a sense of the unknown when bringing in a new coach, even if they have had success elsewhere. Yet, at times, teams know a change can shake things up, allowing fresh ideas and tactics to come to the fore.

Conversely, a handful of NBA teams have simply stuck to their guns down the years, sticking with their head coaches through the good times and the bad. Some, of course, have earned the reputation of untouchables, legends for whom a decision to step down will probably be theirs alone.

But who are they? Let’s look at the five longest-tenured coaches in the NBA right now:

Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs)

Hired: 1996

Anyone who even casually follows the NBA will have known who would top this list. Popovich has been in charge of the Spurs since before most of his current players were born. He has broken nearly every coaching record under the sun and, of course, delivered five NBA Championships to San Antonio. It’s an interesting time for Popovich, though, as he has been in charge of a team that has struggled in recent years. They are big outsiders in the new season’s NBA odds to even make the Playoffs. Still, “Pop” recently signed a contract extension to keep him in place until the 2027-28 season, so he has a few years to rebuild this young team into contenders. Can he make it to 6 titles before he retires?

Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat)

Hired: 2008

Spoelstra is a Miami man through and through, joining the team in 1995, then working his way up various positions until getting the big job in 2008. Since then, he has delivered success in all shapes and forms for the Heat fans. In the early 2010s, he showed that he could win championships with an elite roster, but he has also shown that he can grind his way through the playoffs with less-fancied teams in recent years. He has taken Miami to six NBA Finals, and his team has only missed the Playoffs in three of his sixteen seasons in charge. They love him in Miami, and why not? He has built a successful franchise in his own image. This season will see Spoelstra surpass Ryan Auerbach to become the 3rd longest-tenured coach in NBA history (Popovich is 1st; Jerry Sloan, who spent 23 seasons with the Utah Jazz, is 2nd).

Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors)

Hired: 2014

Another who needs little introduction, Steve Kerr, has been at the helm of the most successful team of the last decade in the NBA. Aside from a blip across a few seasons (2019-2021 and 2023-24), Kerr’s GSW has nearly always been in the mix at the business end of the Playoffs. He has reached the NBA Finals in six of his ten seasons in charge, winning four. Like Spoelstra, Kerr has demonstrated he can win with great teams and ones that are slightly above average. There should be every confidence that he will build another great one with GSW in the coming years.

Michael Malone (Denver Nuggets)

Hired: 2015

One of the things we like about Michael Malone’s tenure at the Nuggets is that the fans have had to show patience. It took him three seasons to first guide Denver into the Playoffs, and then another few seasons to work out what to do when they made it each year. But fans could see there was progression each season, and that counts for a lot when you are building a team. Yes, the Nuggets seem to have taken a small step backward last season as they failed to defend their championship, but the goodwill Malone has built up in Denver won’t disappear anytime soon.

Taylor Jenkins (Memphis Grizzlies)

Hired: 2019

A positive newbie compared to the other names on this list, but Taylor Jenkins is the 5th longest-serving coach in the NBA. Like Malone, Jenkins showed that he was building something in his early years in Memphis, steadily adding more wins before becoming a Playoff-caliber team. However, things went badly downhill last season as the Grizzlies posted a fairly shocking 27-55 record. It was unexpected, but Jenkins has been given some leeway due to the team’s injury problems. Yet, you get the sense that they must turn things around this season – most expect them to do so – if Jenkins is to continue to pop up on any lists like this in the future.