Top 5 coaches in the history of the LA Lakers

#3 Pat Riley

President Pat Riley of the Miami Heat addresses the media during the introductory press conference for Jimmy Butler at American Airlines Arena on September 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida.

Pat Riley took over the team from the controversial Paul Westhead for the 1981-82 NBA season. Westhead had only taken the team through 11 games when he was fired and replaced by Riley, who had a 50-21 record at the end of the season, finishing 1st in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference. Riley took the L.A. Lakers championship tally to 8 after triumphing over the 76ers in the NBA Finals (4-2).

Riles took the team to the NBA Finals in the two consecutive seasons after his debut but lost both times, a clean sweep to the 76ers and a 3-4 defeat to the Celtics, respectively. He, however, won three more championships for the franchise in 1985, 1987 and 1988. In his nine-year stay with the LA Lakers, he took the team to seven NBA Finals and won four times, while he lost three times. It was the most NBA Finals achieved by a Lakers coach, who holds the title alongside Phil Jackson. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 as a coach.

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#2 John Kundla

John Kundla was the first head coach in the history of the franchise. He spent 11 years coaching the then Minneapolis Lakers and was key to solidifying and positioning the Lakers as the Big Market team it is today. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 as a coach for his contribution to the game.

Of his first five seasons with the Lakers, Kundla won the NBA championship title four times, winning his first two seasons, crashing out of the Western Conference Finals, and winning the next three seasons consecutively. After which he had a dry spell and lost the NBA Finals, two Western Conference Finals and a semi.

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#1 Phil Jackson

Head coach Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers stands by the bench in the first quarter of Game Four of the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns during the 2010 NBA Playoffs at US Airways Center on May 25, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Phil Jackson is the greatest NBA coach in the history of the league, with 11 championship titles and a 70% win rate. He was the fastest coach to attain the 900th win mark and was instrumental in the growth of tons of NBA legends we are familiar with today, including Michael Jordan, Scott Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, to name a few.

Jackson made his way to the Lakers as an already well-decorated coach, having won 6 championship titles with the Chicago Bulls in his nine seasons with the Bulls. He brought the Lakers back to the championship title tally in his first season after they had not won a title in 11 years. He won the title in his first three seasons with the Lakers consecutively, thereby winning the title for six seasons straight (three seasons earlier with the Bulls), a feat no one has yet to achieve.

He won two more NBA championship titles for the Lakers in 2009 and 2010, before retiring in 2012. The Zen Master was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.