In the National Basketball Association (NBA), foreign coaches—also known as international coaches—are those who were born outside the United States.
This list includes all international coaches who have been assistant and/or head coach in the NBA and also includes all coaches who were born in the United States but have represented other countries in international basketball competition.
In 2000, Igor Kokoškov from Serbia became the first non-American to hold a full-time assistant coach position in the NBA.Magic Name Igor Kokoskov Assistant Coach In 2004, he became the first non-American assistant coach to win an NBA championship, and the first to serve on an NBA All-Star Game coaching staff. In 2018, he became the first fully European head coach in the NBA.
List Note: These lists are correct through the start of the . Yrs Number of seasons coached in the NBA * Denotes head or assistant coach who is still active in the NBA
List of head coaches Nationality Birthplace Head coach Career Yrs Notes Ref. — * –present 0Named interim head coach on October 23, 2025 – 3— — –; – 4— * –present 0— – 2 Born in the United States to Jewish parents, has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship. –; –; – 16 Born in the United States to Italian parents, has dual U.S. and Italian citizenship. * ; –present 3 Born in the United States to Nigerian parents, has dual U.S. and Nigerian citizenship. Suspended for the 2022–23 season. (now ) 1 Also holds U.S. citizenship as of 2010. (now )* –present 2— —* –present 1— * –present 9 Born in Lebanon to Malcolm H. Kerr, a Lebanese-born American citizen. (now ) – 9 Born in the Russian Empire, moved to the United States as a child, became a naturalized U.S. citizen. 1 Born in West Germany to a Canadian father and an American mother. Holds both American and Canadian passports.
List of assistant coaches Nationality Birthplace Assistant coach Career Yrs Notes Ref. —* –present 5 Also holds Italian citizenship. —* –present 1— —* –present 3— —* –present 2— —* –present 2— * –present 8 Born in the United States to Belizean parents, has dual U.S. and Belize citizenship. —* –present 1— — – 4— — 1 Also holds Finnish citizenship. — – 3— —* ––present 4— – 3— —* –; –; –present 16— (now ) –; –; –present 9 Also holds Belgian citizenship. (now ) –; 4— —* –; –present 9 Also holds Canadian citizenship. * 1 * –present 0 Born in the United States, became a naturalized French citizen. (now ) – 2— 1 Born in the United States, became a naturalized Georgian citizen. — – 7— * –present 1— — 1—< * –present 11 Born in the United States to Irish parents, has dual U.S. and Irish citizenship. – 8 Born in the United States to Irish parents, has dual U.S. and Irish citizenship. * –; –present 8 Born in the United States, has dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship. ; ; ; ; 5 Born in the United States to Italian parents, has dual U.S. and Italian citizenship. * –present 5 Born in the United States, became a naturalized Italian citizen. —* –present 4— — – 5— — – 3— –; – 7 Born in the United States, has dual U.S. and Jordanian citizenship. (now )* –present 4— * –present 0 Born in the United States to Nigerian parents, has dual U.S. and Nigerian citizenship. – 9 Born in the United States to Nigerian parents, has dual U.S. and Nigerian citizenship. * –present 0 Born in the United States, became a naturalized Macedonian citizen. — 1 Also holds U.S. citizenship. * ; –present 21 Born in the United States, became a naturalized Filipino citizen. —* –present 1— – 8 Born in the United States, became a naturalized Russian citizen. — – 6— (now ) – 2— (now )* –; ; –present 21 Also holds U.S. citizenship as of 2010. (now ) – 3 Died during the 2023–24 season. (now ) – 9— (now )* –present 0— (now )* –present 7— (now ) Nenad Trajković 1— * –present 5 Born in the United States, became a naturalized Slovak citizen. (now ) * –present 1— — – 7— — – 2— — 1— — 1— (now )* ;–;–present 10— * – –present 9 Born in Cuba, moved to the United States at the age of 6, became a naturalized U.S. citizen. – 15 Born in Jamaica, moved to the United States at the age of 11, became a naturalized U.S. citizen. – 2 Born in Romania, moved to the United States at the age of 8, became a naturalized U.S. citizen. 1— – 10 Born on the United States mainland, represented U.S. Virgin Islands internationally.
See also List of Serbian NBA coaches List of foreign NBA players Race and ethnicity in the NBA List of current NBA head coaches List of NBA head coaches with 400 games coached
Notes Nationality indicates a coach's representative nationality. Birthplace indicates a coach's country of birth. A blank column indicates that the coach's birth country is the same to his nationality. Career in the NBA SFR Yugoslavia dissolved in 1992 into five independent countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. FR Yugoslavia was renamed into Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003 and dissolved in June 2006 into two independent countries, Montenegro and Serbia. The Russian Empire was overthrown during the Russian Revolution in 1917; the resulting areas would eventually lead to being involved with 22 different modern-day countries. Germany was previously divided into two independent countries, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1949 to 1990. The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991 into 15 independent countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
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