Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $120 million, the most guaranteed money in North American coaching history, ESPN reported Tuesday night.
Spoelstra, 53, has established himself as one of the most respected and successful coaches in professional sports, and the new contract reflects his and the organization's desire to keep him with the only franchise he has worked for in the NBA.
Spoelstra — who won two championships and reached the NBA Finals six times — is the NBA's second-highest paid coach on an annual basis, behind Gregg Popovich at $19 million per season, but the length of Spoelstra's contract separates him financially. His colleagues, sources said.
Miami is tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 21-15 record, despite a revolving door of injuries to key players all season.
Spoelstra has been Miami's coach since 2008, when he replaced Hall of Famer Pat Riley. Since then, Spoelstra has become one of 14 coaches in NBA history to win two titles. As the eighth seed last season, the Heat made a remarkable run in the Eastern Conference playoffs before eventually losing to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
He trails only Popovich in terms of tenure with a single franchise and is third among active coaches in games won (704), behind Popovich and Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle.
Those 704 wins tied Spoelstra for 20th in NBA history. He ranks fifth with 109 playoff wins, trailing only Popovich among active coaches.
Spoelstra started with the Heat in 1995 as the video coordinator under Riley. Over the next 13 years, Spoelstra rose through the ranks as Riley's assistant, then took over the team when Riley stepped down in 2008.
Two years later, LeBron James And Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami to make four straight Finals appearances, including back-to-back championships in 2012 and '13.
After James left in 2014, Spoelstra and the Heat returned to the latter stages of the playoffs. Jimmy Butler On the NBA's bubble in 2020, James defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics en route to losing in six games to James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
The Heat then lost to the Celtics in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 and reached the NBA Finals last season, beating the Bucks, New York Knicks and Celtics.
ESPN's Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.
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