Top 10 NBA coach salaries of all time

#6 Rick Carlisle - $7 million

Dallas Mavericks v Denver Nuggets

One of the few people on the planet to have won the NBA championship in both playing and coaching roles, Rick Carlisle has always been one of the very best head coaches in the league alongside Greg Popovich since he first assumed that role for the Detroit Pistons in 2001.

He won Coach of the Year honors in his first season coaching the franchise, and led them to consecutive 50-32 records before Larry Brown's hiring.

In his first season with the Pacers (who he worked for from 2003-07), he led Indiana to one of their few 60-win seasons as a franchise as well as the #1 seed in the entire league. The Malice in the Palace essentially put paid to the Pacers' hopes of running for the NBA title for a long period of time, but Carlisle continued to showcase his exemplary coaching skills.

Appointed as the Mavericks' head coach for the first time in 2008, the 59-year-old was in charge of the franchise's only NBA title (won in 2011). He received a contract extension worth $35 million over 5 seasons from the 2016-17 season onwards, making him the highest-paid head coach with an executive role in the league.