The National Basketball Coaches Association named Paul Westhead as its 2026 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award winner, it was announced Friday.
Westhead, who is the only head coach with both an NBA and WNBA title, was a head coach or an assistant for 38 years at the NBA, WNBA, NCAA and international basketball levels.
Westhead was an NBA head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers (1979-82), Chicago Bulls (1982-82) and Denver Nuggets (1990-92). He also was the head coach for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury from 2006-07.
He won an NBA title with the Lakers in 1980 and the Mercury in 2007.
At the college ranks, Westhead was head coach at La Salle (1970-79), Loyola Marymount (1985-90) and George Mason (1993-97), as well as the Oregon women’s team (2009-14). Internationally, he coached at Wakayama in Japan’s National Basketball League.
“I am thankful for all the coaches who worked with me during my NBA coaching career,” Westhead said in a statement. “From Jack McKinney, who gave me my start with the LA Lakers, to P.J. Carlesimo who hired me for my last job (as an assistant coach) with the Seattle SuperSonics.”
Westhead was known for developing up-tempo offenses that forced both teams into a fast-break style that put scoreboards to the test.
“Coach Westhead’s impact on the game extends far beyond wins and championships,” said NBCA president J.B. Bickerstaff, who also is the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. “He challenged conventional thinking, introduced ideas that were ahead of their time, and influenced generations of coaches across every level of men’s and women’s basketball.”
Previous recipients of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award include Don Nelson (2025), Rudy Tomjanovich (2024), Rick Adelman (2023), Mike Fratello (2022), Larry Brown (2021), Del Harris (2020), Frank Layden (2019), Doug Moe (2018), Al Attles and Hubie Brown (2017), K.C. Jones and Jerry Sloan (2016), Dick Motta (2015), Bernie Bickerstaff (2014), Bill Fitch (2013), Pat Riley (2012), Lenny Wilkens (2011), Jack Ramsay and Tex Winter (2010), and Tommy Heinsohn (2009).
