Which NBA coach has the most appearances at the All-Star game in league history?

Ahead of the 2023 All-Star game this weekend, coaches Michael Malone and Joe Mazzulla have received their fair share of attention. With Malone set to be the coach of Team LeBron and Mazzulla set to coach Team Giannis, the two men have earned praise for their side's dominance.

While it will be Malone's second appearance as a coach after his 2019 nomination, the number isn't enough to put him in the top 5. As it turns out, Red Auerbach holds the record for most All-Star coaching selections in league history with 11. From 1957-1967, Auerbach continued to be nominated as the East's coach.

He won nine NBA championships with the Boston Celtics during that time, earning the 1965 NBA Coach of the Year award. Between his reign as a coach and nearly twenty years as a general manager, Auerbach earned plenty of love and admiration around Boston, including a famous statue.

With Auerbach sitting in first place and Malone falling shy of the top five, let's look at the top three coaches with the most All-Star game appearances.

Top 3 coaches with the most All-Star Game appearances

Behind Red Auerbach, three men hold the distinction of having the most All-Star Game appearances.

In second place is the one and only Pat Riley, who earned a whopping nine nominations for the All-Star game. His first two nominations came in the 1982 and 1983 seasons while he was a coach for the LA Lakers. The nominations came after a brief period where Riley was an assistant coach for the team.

He was then nominated every year from 1985-1990 while with the Lakers before his final nomination as the coach of the New York Knicks.

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Behind Auerbach and Pat Riley, we have a tie for third place between KC. Jones and Fred Schaus, both of whom have earned five All-Star Game nominations as coaches.

In the case of Jones, the eight-time NBA champion spent his entire NBA career with the Boston Celtics. After transitioning to a coaching role, he earned his first All-Star selection in 1975 while coaching the Washington Bullets. It would be almost a decade until Jones earned his next nomination to coach the All-Star game.

When he did, it was fittingly during his time coaching the Boston Celtics. From 1984-1987, Jones was nominated to coach the East in the All-Star game every year. He won two titles with the Celtics during that time, bringing his career full circle.

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Fred Schaus, who was drafted in the third round of the 1949 NBA Draft, is tied with Jones in third place with five All-Star coaching nominations. After transitioning to a coaching role, he earned all five of his All-Star coaching nominations during his time with the Lakers.

Unfortunately for him and his team, he came up short of winning a championship with the team despite the accolades.

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