Miami Heat, Erik Spoelstra agree to record-breaking contract extension
Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat have agreed to a contract extension, which will only see the longest-running coach in franchise history continue to add to his record in the coming years.
Spoelstra signed an eight-year extension worth about $120 million — the largest contract in NBA history in terms of total value for a coach — according to a person with knowledge of the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Tuesday because the terms were not made public.
Spoelstra’s current contract expires after this season.
Spoelstra is in his 16th season as head coach in Miami and his 29th season overall with the franchise. He started in the video room and eventually became a scout, assistant coach and then Pat Riley’s hand-picked successor as head coach in April 2008.
Spoelstra was 24 when he arrived in Miami. Now 53, he has three NBA championship rings, two of which are as Miami’s head coach. He has taken the Heat to the NBA Finals six times, including last season.
Spoelstra is the league’s second-longest current coach, behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, who is in his 28th season as Spurs coach. Spoelstra’s 725 regular-season wins rank 19th in NBA history, and only three coaches – Popovich with the Spurs, Jerry Sloan with Utah and Red Auerbach with Boston – have won more games with one franchise than Spoelstra has with the Heat.
Spoelstra is also an assistant coach for USA Basketball this Olympic cycle and will be part of head coach Steve Kerr’s staff during the Paris Games this summer. Spoelstra will likely be among the top candidates to take over the Olympic team for the next cycle that will culminate in the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
“We’re all about the sweat and the grind,” Spoelstra said before this season started. ‘It’s about when no one is looking. We have a saying with the Heat: “There’s beauty in the grind, there’s beauty in the sweat.” That’s pretty much what happens behind the scenes.”
Spoelstra’s highlights include a 27-game winning streak en route to a 66-16 record in the 2012–13 season (the winning streak was the second-longest in NBA history), NBA titles from 2012 and 2013 with teams led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and nine NBA Coach of the Month awards. During Spoelstra’s tenure in Miami, no coach in the league has recorded more postseason wins; he has 109, 10 more than Kerr has had with Golden State.
The Heat valued stability, and few franchises in the sport have enjoyed that as much as Miami. There have been only six coaches in the franchise’s 36 years; Ron Rothstein was the original coach for three years, followed by Kevin Loughery for parts of four years until Alvin Gentry took over on an interim basis to conclude the 1994-95 season.
Then Riley came to Miami from New York. He coached until 2003, when he promoted Stan Van Gundy from the role of assistant to the head coach spot. Van Gundy resigned 21 games into his third season, Riley returned to the bench to lead the Heat to their first NBA title in 2006, and then Riley stepped aside again after the 2007-08 season to give Spoelstra the job.
There has been no change since then. Spoelstra passed Riley (454) as the franchise’s wins leader in December 2017 and now has nearly as many wins as the other five Heat coaches combined.
“We’ve had incredible stability and consistency over the years,” Spoelstra said last fall, when asked how he stayed with the Heat for so long. “I have been fortunate to be able to work for who I work for.”