Rick Carlisle of the Indiana Pacers is the shortest price on ESPN’s 2026-27 NBA Coach of the Year board, at +1800 at DraftKings, a 5.3% implied chance. Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets is next at +2000, and Mike Brown of the New York Knicks and JJ Redick of the Los Angeles Lakers share third at +2500.
The board was read on September 24, 2026, four weeks before the season opens on October 20. It carries nine of the league’s 30 head coaches, and Joe Mazzulla, who won the award for 2025-26 with Boston, is not one of them.
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2027 NBA Coach of the Year odds
| Coach | Team | Odds | Implied chance | Team’s 2025-26 record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Carlisle | Indiana Pacers | +1800 | 5.3% | 19-63 |
| Ime Udoka | Houston Rockets | +2000 | 4.8% | 52-30 |
| Mike Brown | New York Knicks | +2500 | 3.8% | 53-29 |
| JJ Redick | Los Angeles Lakers | +2500 | 3.8% | 53-29 |
| Tiago Splitter | Chicago Bulls | +3000 | 3.2% | 31-51 |
| Charles Lee | Charlotte Hornets | +3000 | 3.2% | 44-38 |
| Steve Kerr | Golden State Warriors | +3000 | 3.2% | 37-45 |
| Tyronn Lue | LA Clippers | +6000 | 1.6% | 42-40 |
| Doug Christie | Sacramento Kings | +8000 | 1.2% | 22-60 |
The implied chance is 100 divided by the price plus 100. The nine add up to 30.3%, so most of the probability sits with the 21 coaches who have no price in ESPN’s feed yet, including Mazzulla, J.B. Bickerstaff of Detroit and Mitch Johnson of San Antonio.
This is the 2026-27 market. ESPN files it under the season it labels 2026-27, the 2025-26 award was decided on May 26, and the prices have moved: Carlisle was +20000 on the 2025-26 board and Redick was +1000.
Indiana’s 19 wins and the Carlisle price
Indiana went 19-63 in 2025-26, 14th in the East, one season after reaching the NBA Finals and losing Game 7 to Oklahoma City. No other team with a priced coach won fewer than 22 games.
Splitter is the other name tied to a team starting low. ESPN’s coaching records have him with Portland in 2025-26 and Chicago for 2026-27, and the Bulls went 31-51. Doug Christie’s Sacramento finished 22-60, tied for the worst record in the West.
The coaches of winning teams
Houston won 52 games and lost to the Lakers in the first round. The Knicks, now Brown’s team, are the defending champions after beating San Antonio 4-1 in the Finals, and the Lakers went 53-29 as the West’s fourth seed.
Brown has won the award twice, for Cleveland in 2008-09 and Sacramento in 2022-23. Kerr won it for 2015-16, when Golden State went 73-9. Both are priced at +2500 or longer.
How Mazzulla won it for 2025-26
Mazzulla led Boston to 56-26 and the East’s No. 2 seed, going 51-19 after a 5-7 start, according to the league’s announcement on May 26. At 37 he was the youngest winner since Phil Johnson in 1974-75, and the first Celtics coach to win it since Bill Fitch in 1979-80.
Bickerstaff finished second in the voting, after Detroit went 60-22 and had the East’s best record. Johnson was third, with a Spurs team that went 62-20 and won the West.
Recent NBA Coach of the Year winners
| Season | Coach | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Joe Mazzulla | Boston Celtics | 56-26 |
| 2024-25 | Kenny Atkinson | Cleveland Cavaliers | 64-18 |
| 2023-24 | Mark Daigneault | Oklahoma City Thunder | 57-25 |
| 2022-23 | Mike Brown | Sacramento Kings | 48-34 |
| 2021-22 | Monty Williams | Phoenix Suns | 64-18 |
| 2020-21 | Tom Thibodeau | New York Knicks | 41-31 |
| 2019-20 | Nick Nurse | Toronto Raptors | 53-19 |
| 2018-19 | Mike Budenholzer | Milwaukee Bucks | 60-22 |
| 2017-18 | Dwane Casey | Toronto Raptors | 59-23 |
| 2016-17 | Mike D’Antoni | Houston Rockets | 55-27 |
| 2015-16 | Steve Kerr | Golden State Warriors | 73-9 |
Every winner in this span had a winning record. The lowest win total in a full 82-game season was Brown’s 48 in 2022-23, more than double Indiana’s 19.
What the prices say
At +1800, Carlisle needs to win the award 5.3% of the time for a bet to break even. At +3000, Kerr needs 3.2%. A Coach of the Year bet is worth making only when you rate a coach’s chance higher than the price does.
Opening night is October 20, with the 76ers at the Knicks, the Celtics at the Pistons and the Thunder at the Spurs. Nightly calls start on our NBA predictions hub, and the season is covered in our NBA betting guide. The player awards are on our NBA MVP odds, Sixth Man odds and Most Improved Player odds pages, and the team futures on our NBA championship odds.