NBA

NBA Milestone: Doc Rivers Set To Pass Phil Jackson On All-Time Win List

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Anthony Cardenas
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Anthony Cardenas Sports Editor

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Published24 Mar 2025

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Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers is in his 26th season as an NBA head coach, and his longevity has him climbing up the all-time wins list. And while the two have completely different resumes from their time in the league, Rivers is on the brink of passing arguably the greatest coach in the history of the game in career victories.

Doc Rivers Set To Pass Phil Jackson On NBA All-Time Wins List

No coach in NBA history won on a more frequent basis than Phil Jackson. He was the ring leader for two of the greatest dynasties that the game has ever seen, heading up both the Chicago Bulls throughout the 1990s and the Los Angeles Lakers during their successful runs at the start of the current century.

He spent 20 total years as a head coach in the league, and was able to rack up 1,155 regular season victories in 1,640 games coached. That put his final winning percentage at .704, which remains the highest mark of anyone with more than 3 years of experience. Every other coach who ranks in the top-10 of all-time wins has 24+ years on the job.

Doc Rivers, who is currently in 8th place on the wins list, has 26 years of experience, and a winning percentage of .587 (1,154-812). And while it has taken 326 more games for him to reach his current win mark, the 63-year-old Rivers is set to pass Jackson in total regular season victories in the coming days. He sits just a single victory behind, and should be able to pass Jackson this week, as the Bucks have four games scheduled between now and Sunday.

It is the only portion of Doc Rivers’ NBA resume that would be able to compare to Phil Jackson’s. The winning percentage is an obvious and glaring difference, but so is the postseason success. No one has more championship rings than Jackson’s 11, with Rivers stuck on 1. Jackson’s 229 career playoff victories are 58 more than any other coach ever, and more than double the 113 that Rivers has in his career.

The Bucks will take on the Phoenix Suns on Monday evening, followed by a game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.