Most NBA Championships by a Coach

Phil Jackson holds the record for the most NBA championships by a head coach, with 11. He won six with the Chicago Bulls and five with the Los Angeles Lakers, doing it in just 20 seasons on an NBA bench.

Coaching titles are the ultimate measure of a leader in professional basketball, requiring not only talented rosters but the ability to guide them through the postseason gauntlet year after year. Here is the full leaderboard of the coaches with the most NBA championships, and the dynasties behind the numbers. All figures are as of the 2025 season.

The record holder: Phil Jackson and 11 titles

Phil Jackson’s 11 championships came in two dominant runs. First, he led Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen’s Chicago Bulls to six titles in the 1990s, spread across two three-peats. Then he moved west and won five more with the Lakers, riding the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant partnership and a later Bryant-led core.

What sets Jackson apart is not just the total but the efficiency. He reached 11 titles faster than any coach in history, and his teams never missed the playoffs while he was in charge, giving him a claim as the most successful coach the sport has seen.

The full leaderboard of NBA championship coaches

The table below ranks head coaches by NBA titles won. Active coaches are noted.

Rank	Titles	Coach	Teams
1	11	Phil Jackson	Bulls, Lakers
2	9	Red Auerbach	Celtics
3	5	Gregg Popovich	Spurs
3	5	Pat Riley	Lakers, Heat
3	5	John Kundla	Minneapolis Lakers
6	4	Steve Kerr*	Warriors
7	2	Erik Spoelstra*	Heat
7	2	K.C. Jones	Celtics
7	2	Tommy Heinsohn	Celtics
7	2	Rudy Tomjanovich	Rockets

*Steve Kerr and Erik Spoelstra are active; their totals may still climb.

The list is dominated by dynasty builders, from Auerbach’s Celtics of the 1960s to Jackson’s Bulls and Lakers and Popovich’s long Spurs reign.

Auerbach, Popovich and the five-time winners

Red Auerbach’s nine titles, including eight straight from 1959 to 1966, built the Boston Celtics into the NBA’s defining dynasty. Gregg Popovich, who stepped away from the San Antonio bench in 2025, won five titles across nearly two decades and is the winningest regular-season coach ever. Pat Riley won four with the Showtime Lakers and one with the Miami Heat, while John Kundla’s five came with the George Mikan-led Minneapolis Lakers in the sport’s early years. For his regular-season dominance, see our leaderboard of the winningest NBA coaches.

The active chase: Steve Kerr

Steve Kerr leads active coaches with four championships, all with the Golden State Warriors, and Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat has two. Both are far from the record, underscoring how rare a five-title coaching career has become in the modern, parity-driven league. For team totals, see our leaderboard of the most NBA championships by team.

Why the record matters

A championship coach must win four rounds of playoff series, so stacking 11 titles the way Phil Jackson did requires sustained excellence across changing rosters and eras. That is why his record, and Auerbach’s nine, stand as the benchmarks of coaching greatness. For a cross-sport comparison of sideline dynasties, see our leaderboard of the most Super Bowl wins by a coach and the most NBA Finals MVP awards.

The short version: Phil Jackson holds the record with 11 NBA titles as a head coach, ahead of Red Auerbach (9) and a three-way tie at five. As of the 2025 season, Steve Kerr leads active coaches with four, still well short of the summit.