Larry Brown (basketball)

Larry Brown
Brown in 2014
Personal information
Born (1940-09-14) September 14, 1940
New York City, New York, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Listed weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
High schoolLong Beach (Lido Beach, New York)
CollegeNorth Carolina (1960–1963)
NBA draft1963: 7th round, 55th overall pick
Drafted byBaltimore Bullets
Playing career1967–1972
PositionPoint guard
Number11
Coaching career1965–1967, 1972–2022
Career history
As a player:
1967–1968New Orleans Buccaneers
1968–1971Oakland Oaks / Washington Caps / Virginia Squires
1971–1972Denver Rockets
As a coach:
1965–1967North Carolina (assistant)
1972–1974Carolina Cougars
1974–1979Denver Nuggets
1979–1981UCLA
1981–1983New Jersey Nets
1983–1988Kansas
1988–1992San Antonio Spurs
1992–1993Los Angeles Clippers
1993–1997Indiana Pacers
1997–2003Philadelphia 76ers
2003–2005Detroit Pistons
2005–2006New York Knicks
2008–2010Charlotte Bobcats
2012–2016SMU
2018Auxilium Torino
2021Memphis (assistant)
2022Memphis (advisor to HC)
Career highlights
As player:
  • ABA champion (1969)
  • 3× ABA All-Star (1968–1970)
  • ABA All-Star MVP (1968)
  • 3× ABA assists leader (1968–1970)
  • All-ABA Second Team (1968)
  • First-team All-ACC (1963)
  • Second-team All-ACC (1962)

As coach:

  • NBA champion (2004)
  • NCAA Division I tournament champion (1988)
  • 3× NCAA Division I regional champion – Final Four (1980*, 1986, 1988)
  • 2× Big Eight tournament champion (1984, 1986)
  • Big Eight regular season champion (1986)
  • AAC tournament champion (2015)
  • AAC regular season champion (2015)
  • Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award (2021)
  • NBA Coach of the Year (2001)
  • 3× ABA All-Star Game head coach (1973, 1975, 1976)
  • 2× NBA All-Star Game head coach (1977, 2001)
  • 3× ABA Coach of the Year (1973, 1975, 1976)
  • Top 15 Coaches in NBA History
  • Naismith College Coach of the Year (1988)
* Vacated by the NCAA
Career ABA playing statistics
Points4,229 (11.2 ppg)
Rebounds1,005 (2.7 rpg)
Assists2,509 (6.7 apg)
Stats at NBA.com 
Stats at Basketball Reference
Career coaching record
ABA & NBA1327–1011 (.568)
Record at Basketball Reference 
Basketball Hall of Fame
Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1964 Tokyo Men's basketball
Head coach for the  United States
2004 Athens Men's basketball
Assistant coach for the  United States
2000 Sydney Men's basketball
FIBA Americas Championship
Head coach for the  United States
2003 San Juan Men's basketball
Maccabiah Games
Representing the  United States
1961 Israel Men's basketball

Lawrence Harvey Brown (born September 14, 1940[1]) is an American basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers. Brown is the only coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA national championship (Kansas Jayhawks, 1988) and an NBA title (Detroit Pistons, 2004). He has a 1,275–965 lifetime professional coaching record in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is the only coach in NBA history to lead eight teams (differing franchises) to the playoffs. He also won an ABA championship as a player with the Oakland Oaks in the 1968–69 season, and an Olympic gold medal in 1964. He is also the only person ever to coach two NBA franchises in the same season (Spurs and Clippers during the 1991–92 NBA season).[2] Before coaching, Brown played collegiately at the University of North Carolina and professionally in the ABA.

Brown was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach on September 27, 2002. On July 8, 2021, the National Basketball Coaches Association awarded Brown the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.[3]

  1. ^ "Larry Brown Coaching Record". Stats Crew. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  2. ^ "Lawrence "Larry" Brown". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  3. ^ "National Basketball Coaches Association Presents the 2021 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award to NBA Coaching Icon Larry Brown". Detroit Pistons. Retrieved July 12, 2021.