Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups now has the eighth-longest active tenure with the same team among NBA head coaches. Billups was officially hired on June 27, 2021. Since Dec. 1, 2024, six head coaches have either been fired or resigned, most recently Tom Thibodeau, formerly of the New York Knicks.
Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat is now the longest-serving head coach by a wide margin, having been hired in 2008. Golden State’s Steve Kerr is next; he was hired in 2014. Trailing by another significant margin in terms of tenure are the Chicago Bulls’ Billy Donovan, LA Clippers’ Tyronn Lue, and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Mark Daigneault, all hired in 2020.
Billups is part of a group of six coaches hired in 2021, meaning that Billups is tied with six other coaches in terms of seasons coached with the same team, though their start dates vary. Of that group of six, only Chris Finch of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Rick Carlisle of the Indiana Pacers were hired before Billups, with Finch taking the job in February of 2021 and Carlisle being officially hired just three days before Billups in June.
Only two head coaches who were at their jobs on NBA Draft day in 2020 are still with the same team. More remarkable, when the Blazers meet the Phoenix Suns for the first time next season, Billups will have coached against four different Suns head coaches.
According to the website Towards Data Science, the median tenure for a head coach is 2.5 seasons, and just over 10% of coaches make it five seasons. Billups needs to only make it through the upcoming season to be in that top 10% in terms of longevity.
