List of NBA All-Star Game head coaches
This is a list of NBA All-Star Game head coaches. The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is an annual basketball exhibition game held during the National Basketball Association regular season. For most of its history, the All-Star Game was played between the Western Conference All-Stars and the Eastern Conference All-Stars, where the head coach for each All-Star team was the coach of the NBA team with the best record from their respective conference. From the 2018 to the 2023 game, the format of the game was slightly altered. The starters and reserves were chosen as usual, but the two captains draft their team from those starters and reserves. The coaches are also selected as usual, and matched with the captain from their respective conference. For the 2025 game, the format was changed to a tournament style, pitting four teams of eight players each. Three teams would be represented by the NBA All-Stars, while a fourth team would be represented by the winning team of the Rising Stars Challenge composed of NBA rookies and sophomores plus NBA G League standouts. The coaches selected remain the same as previous All-Star Games, randomly assigned to one of the three All-Star teams. The remaining All-Star team and the Rising Stars team would be coached by the assistant coach from one of the head coach's NBA teams. The 2026 game retained the tournament format, but would feature two teams composed of U.S.-born All-Stars and one team composed of international All-Stars.
To ensure that a different coach represents their conference each year, there is a rule against a head coach making a consecutive appearance. Instead, the coach with the next best record is selected. This rule is known as the "Riley Rule" and was introduced in the early 1990s after the dominance of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers team in the Western Conference, which was coached by Pat Riley.
Only Lenny Wilkens, Alex Hannum, and Doc Rivers have represented three separate teams as the All-Star Game coach. Red Auerbach, the head coach for the Boston Celtics between 1950 and 1966, coached the most All-Star Games with 11 appearances.
17 of the coaches previously appeared in the All-Star Game as a player, with player-coach Bobby Wanzer being the first person to appear in the NBA All-Star Game as a player and as a coach, doing so in 1957 after previously appearing in the All-Star Game five times from 1952 to 1956. The list includes: Wanzer, Ed Macauley, Paul Seymour, Fred Schaus, Bill Sharman, Richie Guerin, Gene Shue, Larry Costello, Tom Heinsohn, Billy Cunningham, Lenny Wilkens, Paul Westphal, Rudy Tomjanovich, Doug Collins, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, and Doc Rivers.