List of NBA head coaches with 500 games coached

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a major professionalbasketball league in North America. It was founded in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted its current name at the start of the 1949–50 NBA season when it merged with the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of 30 teams, of which 29 are located in the United States and one in Canada.

In the NBA, a head coach is the highest ranking coach of a coaching staff. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than the assistant coaches. Lenny Wilkens has coached the most regular season games. He has coached 2,487 games with six teams in 32 seasons. Gregg Popovich has won the most regular season games with 1,390. Don Nelson, Bill Fitch, Jerry Sloan, Larry Brown and Doc Rivers are the only other coaches who have coached more than 2,000 regular season games. 33 other head coaches have coached more than 1,000 regular season games. Three of those coaches, Gregg Popovich, Al Attles and Erik Spoelstra, have spent their entire coaching career with one team. Gregg Popovich has coached 2,214 regular season games with the San Antonio Spurs in his 29 years career, Al Attles has coached 1,075 regular season games with the Golden State Warriors in his 14 years career, and Spoelstra has coached 1,359 regular season games with the Miami Heat in his 17 years career.

As of May 2, 2025, Gregg Popovich has the most regular season games coached (2,214) with one team, during his 29 years career with the San Antonio Spurs. He also has the record of most game wins when combining regular season and postseason games with 1,560 wins. Larry Brown has coached 9 different teams, the highest number of teams coached among the head coaches.

Former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson won 11 NBA championships, the most in NBA history. He is the only coach who has won multiple championships with multiple teams. He won six titles with the Chicago Bulls and five titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. He also leads the NBA for the most postseason games coached and the most postseason wins. Red Auerbach won nine championships with the Boston Celtics. He won his first title in 1957 before winning eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966. John Kundla, Pat Riley and Gregg Popovich have each won five championships. Gregg Popovich won all of his titles coaching the San Antonio Spurs as John Kundla won all of his titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, while Pat Riley won four titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat. Don Nelson, Gregg Popovich and Pat Riley each won the Coach of the Year Award three times, while Bill Fitch, Hubie Brown, Mike Brown, Mike Budenholzer, Mike D'Antoni, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Gene Shue and Tom Thibodeau have each won it twice. 23 NBA head coaches (Rick Adelman, Red Auerbach, Larry Brown, Chuck Daly, Billy Donovan, Bill Fitch, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Alex Hannum, Tom Heinsohn, Red Holzman, Phil Jackson, George Karl, John Kundla, Don Nelson, Gregg Popovich, Jack Ramsay, Pat Riley, Doc Rivers, Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, Jerry Sloan, Rudy Tomjanovich and Lenny Wilkens) have earned induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. Red Auerbach, Chuck Daly, Bill Fitch, Red Holzman, Phil Jackson, John Kundla, Don Nelson, Jack Ramsay, Pat Riley and Lenny Wilkens were named in the list of Top 10 Coaches in NBA History announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. Larry Brown, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan, Erik Spoelstra, K. C. Jones, Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers joined Red Auerbach, Chuck Daly, Red Holzman, Phil Jackson, Don Nelson, Jack Ramsay, Pat Riley and Lenny Wilkens on the updated list of 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History, announced during the league's 75th anniversary in 2021.

This list includes all head coaches who have coached at least 500 games in the NBA or BAA. The list does not include games in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for head coaches who coached in the ABA prior to the ABA–NBA merger.