The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most decorated teams of all time with countless Hall of Fame players that have donned the purple and gold. The all-time greats are not just reserved for the court, though, as the team has had some excellent head coaches as well.
A franchise does not win 17 championships without having a long list of great head coaches. There certainly are some bad head coaches as well, but today, we are focusing on the good.
One thing should be noted before we jump into the list, though. We are only including coaches from the Los Angeles Lakers, not the Minneapolis Lakers. Sorry to John Kundla, who won 5 championships (one of which was still called the BAA Championship). He would have been on this list otherwise.
The 5 greatest head coaches in Los Angeles Lakers history:
5. Del Harris
Del Harris is the only non-champion on this list and while that does hurt his resume, his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers was still solid. Harris was good enough to pilot the team to a championship and if he would have stuck around he would have had at least one from the three-peat era.
Instead, he finished his Lakers career with a .659 winning percentage and one Coach of the Year Award. While Shaquille O’Neal eventually came along during the end of Harris’ tenure, Harris had to deal with a dry period in terms of starpower in Lakers’ history and was still able to make the Lakers a competitive playoff team.
That is far more than the recent stretch of head coaches could do from 2013-2018.
Harris ranks fifth in Los Angeles Lakers history in games coached and fourth in winning percentage with at least 100 games coached. Harris was never a head coach in the league again, instead serving as an assistant in the league up until 2010.
Harris does make it over Paul Westhead, who won a championship with the Lakers. While Westhead was successful, he and Magic Johnson had a contentious relationship that led to his firing. You can’t rank in the top five if you can’t even get along with your best player.
4. Frank Vogel
Yep, current Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel ranks fourth all-time in Los Angeles Lakers history. You could make the case that someone like Fred Schaus is more deserving than Vogel and that Harris should have stayed on the list but Schaus did not win anything. Sure, he coached for a long time, but he did not win a championship nor have the winning success that Harris had.
Vogel is only two seasons into his coaching stint with the Los Angeles Lakers and he is one of just six coaches in franchise history (five in LA history) to win an NBA Championship. That distinction automatically puts him on the list, even if he got a lot of help by having LeBron James and Anthony Davis play for him.
While he definitely has some big star power so did the other great coaches in Lakers history. It is not like Vogel was sitting back and watching LeBron do everything. Vogel’s handprint is all over this team, particularly on the defensive side of the basketball.
Vogel is young and if he continues to win with LeBron and AD then there is no reason that he cannot carve out a long career with the Los Angeles Lakers. While a lot has to happen, he very well could move up this list with a long tenure and more rings on his hand.
Vogel ranks fifth in Los Angeles Lakers history in winning percentage with at least 100 games coached.
3. Bill Sharman
Bill Sharman might be a forgotten name for modern-day Los Angeles Lakers fans. He is not one of the big-name coaches of yesteryear as he did not win multiple championships with the team. It also does not help that he coached in the 1970s.
That being said, Sharman is absolutely one of the three best coaches in Los Angeles Lakers history and if we were including the Minneapolis days he would be the fourth person on the Mount Rushmore. He is one of the five coaches in LA history to win a championship and his championship might be the most impactful.
Sharman was hired to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1971 and in his first season at the helm, he helped an all-time great win his only championship. Sharman helped guide the Lakers to the 1972 NBA Championship, the only championship that Jerry West would win in many tries.
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That was also the season of the 33-game winning streak, which is a record that still stands today. The Lakers set the all-time record for wins in a season that year (it has since been broken) and Sharman absolutely had a hand in that.
He did not win another championship as a coach but he did continue to impact the Los Angeles Lakers in the front office. Sharman was either the general manager or president for the Lakers’ five showtime titles and had his handprint all over that team as well.
2. Pat Riley
Pat Riley is one of the most influential people in basketball history not just for his time as a head coach, but for his time as an executive for the Miami Heat. Riley is one of the most successful people in league history, so it might be surprising to see him rank second on any list.
The fact of the matter is that the Los Angeles Lakers have two of the greatest coaches of all time that would rank first on 90% of the other teams in the league. While either answer is acceptable, we rank Riley second all time.
Riley took over for Westhead and piloted the Showtime Lakers to four championships. While he was absolutely dealing with an immense amount of talent, it is a testament that he was able to keep all of the egos at bay and pilot a team that not only won four titles but was always in the mix as well.
It is hard to do that. Look at the Golden State Warriors. They started to collapse from within late in their run and the Showtime Lakers never really did that, they just got old. The Showtime Lakers are probably the third greatest dynasty in league history (behind Jordan’s Bulls and Russell’s Celtics) and a big reason why is Riley.
Riley proved that he was a great coach later in his career when he led the New York Knicks to the NBA Finals (but could not win). He is also the most influential person in Miami Heat history, helping put together not only the big three with LeBron but in drafting Dwyane Wade and bringing in Shaquille O’Neal for the 2006 championship.
1. Phil Jackson
While some people may disagree (particularly Celtics fans), Phil Jackson should be considered the greatest coach in NBA history. Not only is he the greatest head coach in Los Angeles Lakers history, but he is the greatest coach in Chicago Bulls history and is part of two extremely important dynasties.
His impact on the Chicago Bulls was highlighted by ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ and it is hard to be a critic of Jackson after that. Sure, he benefitted from having Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the team, but the things he had to deal with not just with his players but the front office was remarkable.
Then he goes to LA and takes an already talented Lakers team over the limit and wins three straight championships. That was no cakewalk, either, as he had to deal with the ego clash between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
Then he a year off and returns to the team to win two more championships with Bryant and Pau Gasol. While Bryant is an all-time great, that team was not as talented as some of the other teams from that era and the triangle offense still prevailed.
Jackson has won five NBA Championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and six with the Chicago Bulls. He is the only coach in franchise history with over 600 wins and he never had a single losing season not just with the Lakers but with the Bulls as well.