Can You Trade an NBA Coach?

Generally, coaches are just bought out or denied an extension when teams want to part ways. However, every once in a while, the stars align for a potential coach trade. These stars include the current situation for both teams involved, the coach’s willingness to be traded, and the coach’s contract, among other things.

Most people cite the Celtics trading Doc River’s to the Clippers in 2013 as evidence of coach trades but Doc wasn’t “technically” traded. David Stern blocked the official trade attempt as it had Deandre Jordan and Kevin Garnett involved since the NBA has a rule about including coaches in player trades for whatever reason. This led to Doc being “traded” for a first round pick but he was technically released by the Celtics and immediately signed by the Clippers (per basketball reference). An example of a true trade of a coaches contract came back in 2007 when Stan Van Gundy was traded to the Magic from the Heat for a 2nd round pick.