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, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and Mike Brown have won NBA Coach of the Year with the Kings, in the 1974–75, 1978–79, and 2022–23 seasons respectively.[3][4][5] 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.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Wanzer, Tom Marshall, Jack McMahon, Cousy, Larry Staverman, Adelman and Theus formerly played for the Kings.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] 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

GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
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.

# Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
1 Les Harrison* 1948–1955 476 296 181 .620 38 19 19 .500 1 Championship (1951) [20]
2 Bobby Wanzer* 1955–1957 (as player-coach)
1957–1958 		234 98 126 .418 2 0 2 .000 [6]
3 Tom Marshall 1958–1959 (as player-coach)
1959–1960 		129 35 94 .271 — — — — [21]
4 Charles Wolf 1960–1963 239 118 121 .494 16 7 9 .438 [22]
5 Jack McMahon 1963–1967 321 187 134 .583 23 8 15 .348 [23]
6 Ed Jucker* 1967–1969 164 80 84 .488 — — — — [7]
7 Bob Cousy* 1969–1970 (as player-coach)
1970–1973 		350 141 209 .403 — — — — [8]
8 Draff Young* 1973 3 0 3 .000 — — — — [9]
9 Phil Johnson 1973–1978 340 155 185 .456 6 2 4 .333 1974–75 NBA Coach of the Year[3] [24]
10 Larry Staverman 1978 45 18 27 .400 — — — — [25]
11 Cotton Fitzsimmons 1978–1984 492 248 244 .504 26 9 17 .346 1978–79 NBA Coach of the Year[3] [26]
12 Jack McKinney 1984 9 1 8 .111 — — — — [27]
— Phil Johnson 1984–1987 201 81 120 .403 3 0 3 .000 [24]
13 Jerry Reynolds* 1987 60 22 38 .367 — — — — [10]
14 Bill Russell 1987–1988 58 17 41 .293 — — — — [28]
— Jerry Reynolds* 1988–1990 110 34 76 .309 — — — — [10]
15 Dick Motta 1990–1991 161 48 113 .298 — — — — [29]
16 Rex Hughes 1991–1992 57 22 35 .386 — — — — [30]
17 Garry St. Jean 1992–1997 395 159 236 .403 4 1 3 .250 [31]
18 Eddie Jordan 1997–1998 97 33 64 .340 — — — — [32]
19 Rick Adelman† 1998–2006 624 395 229 .633 69 34 35 .493 [33]
20 Eric Musselman 2006–2007 82 33 49 .402 — — — — [34]
21 Reggie Theus* 2007–2008 106 44 62 .415 — — — — [11]
22 Kenny Natt* 2008–2009 58 11 47 .190 — — — — [35]
23 Paul Westphal 2009–2012 171 51 120 .298 — — — — [36]
24 Keith Smart 2012–2013 141 48 93 .340 — — — — [37]
25 Michael Malone 2013–2014 106 39 67 .368 — — — — [38]
26 Tyrone Corbin 2014–2015 28 7 21 .250 — — — — [39]
27 George Karl† 2015–2016 112 44 68 .393 — — — — [40]
28 Dave Joerger 2016–2019 246 98 148 .398 — — — — [41]
29 Luke Walton 2019–2021 161 68 93 .422 — — — — [42]
30 Alvin Gentry 2021–2022 65 24 41 .369 — — — —
31 Mike Brown 2022–present 164 94 70 .573 7 3 4 .429 2022–23 NBA Coach of the Year [5]

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
  1. ^ a b Cook, Kevin. "The Rochester Royals: The Story of Professional Basketball" (PDF). www.rochester.lib.ny.us. Rochester Public Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 20, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d "Sacramento Kings History". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  4. ^ "Sacramento Kings Media Guides 2008-09 p.348" (PDF). NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 26, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Kings coach Mike Brown named NBCA Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  6. ^ a b "Bobby Wanzer Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  7. ^ a b "Ed Jucker Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  8. ^ a b "Bob Cousy Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  9. ^ a b "Draff Young Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  10. ^ a b c "Jerry Reynolds Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  11. ^ a b "Reggie Theus Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  12. ^ "Kings fire coach Theus". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. 15 December 2008. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  13. ^ "Bobby Wanzer Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  14. ^ "Tom Marshall Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  15. ^ "Jack McMahon Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  16. ^ "Bob Cousy Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  17. ^ "Larry Staverman Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  18. ^ "Rick Adelman Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  19. ^ "Reggie Theus Playing Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  20. ^ "Lester Harrison Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  21. ^ "Tom Marshall Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  22. ^ "Charles Wolf Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  23. ^ "Jack McMahon Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  24. ^ a b "Phil Johnson Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  25. ^ "Larry Staverman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  26. ^ "Cotton Fitzsimmons Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  27. ^ "Jack McKinney Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  28. ^ "Bill Russell Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  29. ^ "Dick Motta Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  30. ^ "Rex Hughes Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  31. ^ "Garry St. Jean Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  32. ^ "Eddie Jordan Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  33. ^ "Rick Adelman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  34. ^ "Eric Musselman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  35. ^ "Kenny Natt Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  36. ^ "Paul Westphal Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  37. ^ "Keith Smart Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
  38. ^ "Mike Malone Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  39. ^ "Tyrone Corbin Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  40. ^ "George Karl Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  41. ^ "Dave Joerger Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  42. ^ "Luke Walton Coaching Record". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 22, 2021.