Rick Carlisle of the Indiana Pacers has the shortest of the nine NBA Coach of the Year odds ESPN lists: +1200 on DraftKings on October 13, 2026. Ime Udoka of Houston is next at +2000, and Mike Brown of the Knicks and JJ Redick of the Lakers are both +2500.
It is a partial list. ESPN carries DraftKings prices for nine of the league’s 30 head coaches, read on October 13, 2026 at 08:21 UTC, and the nine implied chances add up to 32.7%. Nobody on a board that thin can be called the favorite of the whole market. One price has changed since September 24: Carlisle was +1800.
The nine NBA Coach of the Year odds ESPN lists
| Coach | Team | Odds | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Carlisle | Indiana Pacers | +1200 | 7.7% |
| Ime Udoka | Houston Rockets | +2000 | 4.8% |
| Mike Brown | New York Knicks | +2500 | 3.8% |
| JJ Redick | Los Angeles Lakers | +2500 | 3.8% |
| Tiago Splitter | Chicago Bulls | +3000 | 3.2% |
| Charles Lee | Charlotte Hornets | +3000 | 3.2% |
| Steve Kerr | Golden State Warriors | +3000 | 3.2% |
| Tyronn Lue | LA Clippers | +6000 | 1.6% |
| Doug Christie | Sacramento Kings | +8000 | 1.2% |
A $100 bet on Carlisle at +1200 wins $1,200, so it breaks even if he takes the award 7.7% of the time. A complete board adds up to more than 100%. These nine stop at 32.7%, which leaves about two thirds of the market without a price in this feed, and it is why the table has no margin-removed column. A share of the award cannot be worked out from a third of a board.
Twenty-one head coaches are missing. One of them is Joe Mazzulla of Boston, whom the NBA named Coach of the Year for 2025-26 on May 26, 2026. Each coach’s team is the one ESPN’s list of this season’s head coaches gives him.
Where the nine teams finished last season
| Coach | Team | Odds | Team record in 2025-26 | Conference place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rick Carlisle | Indiana Pacers | +1200 | 19-63 | 14, East |
| Ime Udoka | Houston Rockets | +2000 | 52-30 | 5, West |
| Mike Brown | New York Knicks | +2500 | 53-29 | 3, East |
| JJ Redick | Los Angeles Lakers | +2500 | 53-29 | 4, West |
| Tiago Splitter | Chicago Bulls | +3000 | 31-51 | 12, East |
| Charles Lee | Charlotte Hornets | +3000 | 44-38 | 9, East |
| Steve Kerr | Golden State Warriors | +3000 | 37-45 | 10, West |
| Tyronn Lue | LA Clippers | +6000 | 42-40 | 9, West |
| Doug Christie | Sacramento Kings | +8000 | 22-60 | 14, West |
The shortest price belongs to the coach of the team with the worst record of the nine. Indiana went 19-63, 14th in the East, and since September 24 Carlisle’s implied chance has gone from 5.3% to 7.7%.
Doug Christie’s +8000 is the longest price, and Sacramento’s 22-60 was the next-worst record. Three of the nine teams won more than 50 games: the Knicks and Lakers at 53-29 each and Houston at 52-30.
The record is the team’s for 2025-26, whoever coached it. ESPN’s coach list is for this season only.
First games for the nine coaches
| Listed coaches | First game | Tip-off | Favorite | Total | Our page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Brown | Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks | Tue, Oct 20, 7:00 pm ET | New York Knicks -5.5 (-108) | 231.5 | 76ers vs Knicks prediction |
| Tiago Splitter | Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors | Wed, Oct 21, 7:30 pm ET | Toronto Raptors -8.5 (-115) | 235.5 | Bulls vs Raptors prediction |
| Charles Lee | Charlotte Hornets at Brooklyn Nets | Wed, Oct 21, 7:30 pm ET | Charlotte Hornets -2.5 (-110) | 223.5 | Hornets vs Nets prediction |
| Rick Carlisle | Indiana Pacers at New Orleans Pelicans | Wed, Oct 21, 8:00 pm ET | Indiana Pacers -4.5 (-105) | 242.5 | Pacers vs Pelicans prediction |
| Ime Udoka | Dallas Mavericks at Houston Rockets | Wed, Oct 21, 8:30 pm ET | Houston Rockets -7.5 (-118) | 227.5 | Mavericks vs Rockets prediction |
| Steve Kerr, JJ Redick | Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers | Wed, Oct 21, 10:00 pm ET | Los Angeles Lakers -5.5 (-105) | 235.5 | Warriors vs Lakers prediction |
| Doug Christie, Tyronn Lue | Sacramento Kings at LA Clippers | Wed, Oct 21, 10:30 pm ET | LA Clippers -4.5 (-105) | 230.5 | Kings vs Clippers prediction |
Two of the first games put two listed coaches on opposite benches. Steve Kerr’s Warriors visit Redick’s Lakers on October 21 at 10:00 pm ET on ESPN, and Christie’s Kings play at Tyronn Lue’s Clippers half an hour later.
Brown’s Knicks are the only one of the nine teams in action on opening night, at home to Philadelphia on October 20 at 7:00 pm ET on NBC. The lines are DraftKings prices as ESPN lists them, read on October 13 at 08:21 UTC, with a link to our prediction for each game.
What a partial board means for a bet
Carlisle at +1200 has to win the award more than 7.7% of the time for a bet to pay over time, and Udoka at +2000 more than 4.8%. Neither figure can be set against the field, because 21 coaches, last season’s winner among them, have no price in the feed we read. A sportsbook’s own page may list more names than ESPN carries, and we did not read one.
We make no Coach of the Year pick, and with nine of 30 coaches priced we would not rank the nine either.
Player awards have full boards: see the Sixth Man odds, Most Improved Player odds, Defensive Player of the Year odds, Rookie of the Year odds and NBA MVP odds pages. Team futures are on NBA championship odds, and nightly games on the NBA predictions hub. For paid picks there is the PicksToday pricing page.