Paul Westhead Receives NBCA Lifetime Achievement Award
The award honors his six-decade career and title runs with the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Mercury, the NBCA said.
- The National Basketball Coaches Association named 87-year-old Paul Westhead the 2026 recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, with formal presentation at Game 2 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio.
- Westhead, the only head coach to win both an NBA and WNBA title, developed an influential run-and-gun offensive philosophy during a 38-year career spanning the NBA, WNBA, NCAA, and international levels.
- At Loyola Marymount, his teams led NCAA Division I in scoring for three consecutive seasons; his 1989-90 squad remains the highest-scoring team in Division I history, led by Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble.
- Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the NBCA's president, praised Westhead for challenging conventional thinking and influencing generations of coaches across all levels of basketball.
- Crediting his players for his success, Westhead stated, "This award would not be possible if not for the players." He joins past recipients including Don Nelson and Rudy Tomjanovich.
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Paul Westhead, champion coach in NBA and WNBA, receives NBCA's Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award
Paul Westhead won an NBA championship as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980. He won a WNBA championship as coach of the Phoenix Mercury in 2007.
NBA – The former coach of the Lakers, Nuggets and Mercury received the "Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award", rewarding his entire career. NBA champion with the Lakers in 1980, WNBA champion with Phoenix in 2007, passed by the NCAA, WNBA and a multitude of NBA benches, Paul Westhead was honoured in San Antonio, prior to Game 2 of the Finals, by the NBA Coaching Union. The former technician received the "Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award", …
Former Lakers coach Paul Westhead gets lifetime achievement award
Legendary NBA coach Pat Riley is one of the people most associated with the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime dynasty in the 1980s. But some may not know that he wasn’t yet their head coach when they won their first championship of the decade. In 1980, Paul Westhead was at the helm of the Lakers as they finished 60-22 and powered past the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals. He replaced Jack McKinney in the early weeks of the season after McKinney w…
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