NBA coaches with most ejections in league history
NBA coach Ime Udoka was tossed on Saturday night for arguing with the one and only LeBron James. His second technical foul ended his night early. After the ejection, the Houston Rockets lost 107-97.
Udoka was not the first and will not be the last coach to be ejected. Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers have been thrown multiple times over their careers. Nick Nurse received seven technical fouls in one season, resulting in his ejection. Some coaches may even exploit an ejection to try to spark a run by their team.
Legendary NBA coach Gregg Popovich set his unique ejection record. He became the fastest ejection in an NBA game.
Popovich was tossed just 63 seconds into a game against the Denver Nuggets in 2019. The San Antonio Spurs coach argued over a non-foul call and was hit with a tech. He then called a timeout to keep the barrage coming. He followed the referee and kept up the heckling until he was sent to the showers.
Coaches usually have to give a little extra to get tossed. However, it still happens many times. Let’s look at some of the NBA coaches who racked up many ejections.
Three NBA coaches with a large chunk of ejections
NBA coaches are known to be ejected from time to time. Ejections are not tracked statistically. The results are a bit skewed in the history books, and there are no official records of ejection numbers for NBA coaches.
However, a few characters on the sidelines were still known for getting tossed. These coaches were known for their fiery sides and had the techs to prove it.
Gregg Popovich
There is no certain number for the amount of ejections or technical fouls Pop has racked up. He does have the fastest ejection to his name. Popovich is the longest-tenured NBA coach, so he has compiled a ton of every stat possible, including techs. He is also an artist of the double tech to get immediately ejected.
Jerry Sloan
Jerry Sloan is up there with anyone when it comes to ejections. It is estimated that Sloan was hit with 446 technical fouls. He also coached before technical fouls were tracked. Those came with a few ejections mixed in. Sloan was even involved in two physical altercations during his time. One occurred with ref Bob Delaney and one with Courtney Kirkland.
Don Nelson
Don Nelson is believed to own the record for most NBA ejections by a coach. According to some NBA sites, Nelson racked up 79 ejections in his career. He outpaced the competition on this one. Nelson was known as the coach of the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks.