Image via Complex Original
In the NBA, coaches and players do not always get along. It’s to be expected, really; in what sport is there ever a 100 percent satisfaction rate between players and their coaches? Gripes over playing style, playing time, and management techniques are commonplace, but in most cases everyone learns to work together and keep their focus on the greater good.
Sometimes, though, that doesn’t happen. The dysfunction reaches new heights, often in very public displays. Whether you’re talking about Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy's awkward press conference or Allen Iverson ranting and raving about Larry Brown and practice, the volatile relationship between player and coach has been known to occasionally boil over. Sixteen years ago, Latrell Sprewell choked out P.J. Carlesimo during practice. Check out a History of Player-Coach Beefs in the NBA.
Wilt Chamberlain vs. Butch van Breda Kolff
Year: 1969
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
It's hard to imagine anyone thinking that they're more likely to win an NBA title with Wilt Chamberlain off the floor, but that's exactly the move Lakers coach Butch van Breda Kolff pulled in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals against the Celtics. Wilt had hurt his knee with five minutes to go, but with only two minutes remaining on the clock decided he was ready to go back in. Because the Lakers had cut the Celtics' lead to one, van Breda Kolff told Wilt "we're doing well enough without you" and kept him on the bench as the Celtics held on for the upset win. As a result, van Breda Kolff was run out of town, and in his autobiography a few years later Chamberlain would call him "the worst coach I've ever had."
Spencer Haywood vs. Paul Westhead
Year: 1980
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
This is one you will probably never see again. Lakers coach Paul Westhead kicked Haywood off the team after Game 3 of the 1980 Finals because the cocaine-addicted Haywood had fallen asleep during a team practice. So incensed was Haywood that as he drove home he began plotting to have his coach killed, and he even took it so far as to call a hitman and arrange the details of Westhead's murder. Fortunately, Haywood came to his senses the next day and called the hit off. He left the NBA the following season to play a year in Italy, while Westhead remained at the helm of the Lakers until 1981-82 when he was fired mid-season and replaced by assistant coach Pat Riley.
Latrell Sprewell vs. P.J. Carlesimo
Year: 1997
Team: Golden State Warriors
It doesn't get much crazier than a player physically assaulting his coach in plain sight. Then again, Latrell Sprewell did not exactly operate on the same plane of existence that most of us humans do. After a series of back and forth squabbles pertaining to Spree's behavior during timeouts and culminating in the player missing a team flight, coach P.J. Carlesimo finally said the magic words to his temperamental forward during practice. Sprewell responded by wrapping his hands around his coach's neck and not letting go, then returning 20 minutes later to throw a few courtesy punches. The Warriors voided his contract and the NBA suspended him for 68 games (the remainder of the season), while Carlesimo would continue to coach the Warriors until he was fired early on in the 1999-2000 season.
Brian Shaw vs. Brian Hill
Year: 1997
Team: Orlando Magic
It's funny how losing Shaq in his prime quickly soured things for Brian Hill with the Orlando Magic. While the 1996-97 Magic season saw the team win a lot of games (they finished a respectable 45-37), they also happened to be the most unhappy team in the NBA. When Hill engaged in an on-court shouting match with Brian Shaw that continued on into the locker room after the game, the players decided that they had hit their breaking point. A team vote was held, and the players were unanimous in their decision: Hill had to go. The coach was fired five days later, while Shaw would depart as a free agent after the season.
Gary Payton vs. Paul Westphal
Year: 2000
Team: Seattle SuperSonics
Gary Payton was one of the great players of the mid-late 1990s, a point guard whose ability to score, pass, and play suffocating defense made him an All-Star every year from 1994 through 2003. He also was a bona fide pain in the ass, as coach Paul Westphal learned in 2000 during a late November game against Dallas. The pair had a bit of a difference of opinion, leading Payton to say in the huddle that he did not care "about this game anymore. You all can suspend me for the rest of my career" and he and Westphal engaged in a very public screaming match on the court. The repeated clashes with players and a disappointing 6-9 start led to Westphal's firing a few days later, while Payton continues to be remembered as one of the SuperSonics' greatest players ever.
Allen Iverson vs. Larry Brown
Year: 2002
Team: Philadelphia 76ers
The Allen Iverson-Larry Brown relationship was one of the great love/hate pairings in the history of basketball. Brown was notoriously tough on his point guards, and his abrasive style could wear on even the most level-headed players. Iverson, on the other hand, was an amazingly gifted athlete who (for better or for worse) took all manner of crazy shots. If you recall, he also didn’t particularly care for practice. The great Ralph Wiley perfectly summed up the pair's hot and cold relationship thus: "Enjoy the Odd Couple, together, but also keep them away from Roman broadswords, and other sharp objects." Brown stuck around until 2002-03, then quit after the 76ers were eliminated from the playoffs; Iverson lasted until December of 2006, until he was traded to Denver.
Vince Carter vs. Lenny Wilkens
Year: 2004
Team: Toronto Raptors
Vince Carter was never really known for his ability to make his coaches look good, but even we can admit his hatchet job of the winningest coach of all-time might be his masterpiece. Lenny Wilkens won consistently wherever he went, but his tenure in Toronto ended with his worst season as a coach, and Carter certainly didn’t feel he bore any responsibility. "What we should look for is a coach who understands the game today," he said, "to heck with the past." Wilkens, ever the composed elder statesman, took the high road (sort of) when he said that "many players will say things to distract from themselves." While Raptors fans may not celebrate Wilkens' tenure, you can bet they like him a whole lot more than they do Vince.
Kobe Bryant vs. Phil Jackson
Year: 2004
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
Rarely do player-coach feuds end up in literature, but with Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson anything was possible. The catty Jackson resorted to name-calling in his book “The Last Season,” bandying about a lot of mean words and phrases to describe his former star player. The two did manage to mend fences and win another two rings together, although the sniping did still occasionally flair up when Jackson took his next book to press. Jackson's retirement certainly has not meant the end of Kobe's on-court success, although perhaps it is worth noting that No. 24 has never won a ring without Phil Jackson as his coach.
Stephon Marbury vs. Larry Brown
Year: 2006
Team: New York Knicks
Stephon Marbury earns the distinction of being the only player to make this list twice. His problems with Larry Brown-who is notorious for his hard-headedness with point guards-stemmed from Marbury’s belief that Brown wasn't letting Steph be himself on offense. Brown countered that the team sucked, and his supposed "star" did not care to shoulder any blame for that. The back-and-forth was a nagging theme for the Knicks throughout their brutal 2005-06 campaign that ended in a 23-59 record and Brown being fired at season's end. Marbury stayed, though, and became a thorn inside of Brown's successor, Isiah Thomas.
Shaquille O'Neal vs. Stan Van Gundy
Year: 2006
Team: Miami Heat
Shaquille O'Neal may have missed the memo on starting a feud with your coach while you still play for him, but that doesn't mean you can't take your shots years after being separated. While Stan Van Gundy only coached Shaq for just over one season in Miami, clearly those 100-plus games left a very lasting impression. After Van Gundy skewered Shaq for flopping in a 2009 game against Van Gundy's Orlando Magic, O'Neal responded by calling his former coach "a front-runner," "a nobody," and a "master of panic." The incident pretty much ended there, as Van Gundy got the last word when he said "if you're going to dish it out, you've got to be able to take it. And I can take it."
Stephon Marbury vs. Isiah Thomas
Year: 2007
Team: New York Knicks
We already knew Isiah Thomas sucked at putting a winning team together, and his constant battles with "star" Stephon Marbury confirmed that he wasn't much better at managing players, either. Marbury grossly underperformed, forcing Thomas to tinker with his minutes and yank him from the starting lineup early in the 2007-08 season; Starbury did not take too kindly to that, and the reports of the resulting confrontation on the team plane have varied from words to actual fisticuffs.
Regardless of the specific nature of the battle, Marbury's bloated contract actually allowed him to win the war; Thomas was fired in April of 2008, whereas Marbury stayed with the team until February of 2009 (albeit on the restricted list) before his contract was bought out.
Richard Hamilton vs. John Kuester
Year: 2011
Team: Detroit Pistons
There's nothing quite like a good old fashioned mutiny to tear an franchise apart. Richard Hamilton, a beloved member of the Pistons organization and core member of their mid-2000s run, fell out of favor with coach John Kuester in 2011 and was relegated to the bench. That didn't sit too well with Hamilton, who just a week earlier had verbally assaulted his coach in the middle of practice. He then staged a protest where he (along with Tracy McGrady, Tayshaun Prince, and Chris Wilcox) skipped the morning shootaround; it didn't get their coach dismissed right then and there, but Kuester was gone after the season ended. Hamilton lasted until early into the 2011-12 season, when he was waived and subsequently picked up by the Bulls.
Deron Williams vs. Jerry Sloan
Year: 2011
Team: Utah Jazz
Jerry Sloan is a coaching legend, but not everybody was willing to just bow down to his every decision. Indeed, Jazz star Deron Williams decidedly disliked Sloan's abrasive manner, and the two clashed on numerous occasions during Williams' days in Utah. Things finally reached their breaking point during February of 2011, where the two had to be separated during a halftime argument of a game against the Bulls. It was bad enough that Sloan retired that very night after the game ended, and the temperamental Williams was traded to the Nets just over two weeks later.
Dwight Howard vs. Stan Van Gundy
Year: 2012
Team: Orlando Magic
Dwight Howard is not a very good liar, nor is Stan Van Gundy. This made their incompatibility painfully obvious to everyone who watched the Magic play, and it became readily apparent as the feud simmered on that one of them had to go. Things came to a head in April of 2012 when Howard marched into management's office and informed them that he wanted Van Gundy fired. He then denied it, even though Van Gundy himself was the one confirming the reports. The pair's bizarre press conference interaction remains one of the most awkward videos ever to hit YouTube. Howard did ultimately get his wish when Van Gundy was fired in May of 2012, but it didn't do anything to persuade him to stick around as he also forced his way out of town just three months later.
Rajon Rondo vs. Doc Rivers
Year: 2013
Team: Boston Celtics
Rajon Rondo has been known throughout his career as a difficult player, but his rumored fight with coach Doc Rivers would really take things up a level. As the story goes, the two (who used to bicker on and off the court routinely) nearly came to blows during a team meeting after Rondo cursed at his coach, and had to be separated by players and coaches on the scene. While GM Danny Ainge denied that this had anything to do with Rivers' considering a move to the Clippers, in doing so he also failed to deny that it was true in the first place. Doc is now entrenched on the L.A. bench, while Rondo is still in Boston recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last season.