Who are the 2023 NBA All-Star coaches, how are they chosen and what is ‘the Riley rule’?
At the NBA All-Star Game, Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics and Mike Malone of the Denver Nuggets will coach Team Giannis and Team LeBron, respectively.
The NBA All-Star Weekend begins with the Celebrity Game followed by the Rising Stars, which features the best young talent.
However, the most important event of the weekend is the All-Star Game. The starters, reserves, and coaches of Team Giannis and Team LeBron have been lined up.
Who are the 2023 NBA All-Star coaches?
Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics and Mike Malone of the Denver Nuggets will head coach the game for Team Giannis and Team LeBron, respectively, but how did they get that position?
The NBA rewards the head coaches of the teams with the best record and gives them the opportunity to coach their conference teams in the All-Star Game. Mazzulla’s Celtics lead the Eastern Conference with a 42-17 record and Malone’s Nuggets are in first place in the West with a 41-18 record.
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What is the Riley Rule?
During the 1980s, Pat Riley was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and his team won four championships. Due to the success of his squad, the coach was commissioned to lead the Western Conference team in eight All-Star Games between 1982 and 1990. Therefore, the NBA established the Riley rule in 1991. This prevents a coach from being the coach of the All-Star team in consecutive seasons.
For example, if the Miami Heat had the best record before the All-Star break this year, Erik Spoelstra could not have been named All-Star head coach because he already played that role in 2022. In that scenario, the head coaching position for the All-Star Game would have gone to the coach of the second-best team in the Eastern Conference.