Paul Westhead is the 2026 recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Basketball Coaches Associated announced in a press release.
Westhead’s coaching career spanned five decades and a total of 38 seasons. He spent 12 years as a head and assistant coach in the NBA and also coached in the WNBA, NCAA and internationally. He’s the only head coach in basketball history to win both an NBA (with the Lakers in 1980) and WNBA championship (with the Phoenix Mercury in 2007), per the statement.
Known as a progenitor of the run-and-gun offense, Westhead also spent time as head coach of the Bulls and Nuggets and had an extensive college career with La Salle, Loyola Marymount (Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble era), George Mason and Oregon.
“We are honored to recognize Paul Westhead as the recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Pistons head coach and NBCA president J.B. Bickerstaff. “Coach Westhead’s impact on the game extends far beyond wins and championships.
“He challenged conventional thinking, introduced ideas that were ahead of their time, and influenced generations of coaches across every level of men’s and women’s basketball. His commitment to innovation, teaching, and the growth of our game has left a lasting mark on our profession, making him truly deserving of this recognition.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Wednesday’s contest between the Spurs and Knicks was the most-watched NBA Finals Game 1 since 2018, when the Warriors and Cavaliers faced off for the fourth straight year, according to ESPN PR (story via Ronce Rajan). Viewership was up 90% compared to last year, when a couple of small market teams (Oklahoma City and Indiana) squared off. Wednesday’s game was also the most-viewed Finals game overall since Game 6 in 2019 (Warriors-Raptors).
- Canadian guard Naz Mitrou-Long has signed a three-year contract with PAOK BC, the Greek team confirmed in a press statement. The 32-year-old spent parts of three NBA seasons with the Jazz and Pacers and has spent the past several seasons in Europe, playing in Italy, Greece and Lithuania.
- Deputy NBA commissioner Mark Tatum recently spoke to Marc J. Spears of Andscape about the next steps for the Basketball Africa League (BAL). “We are in the process now of transitioning the BAL from a completely open league and model where every year, 12 different teams could participate in the league,” Tatum told Andscape in a phone interview. “In order to qualify now, you have to win your national championship. So, we basically take 12 national champions. And of course, those national champions can change every single year. So, after the first six seasons, we’ve decided that now is the right time to transition the BAL from an open model to more of a franchise model and a semi-closed model.”