Coaches: basketball quiz

6 October 2026 · Ten questions about coaches: what they did as players, and what happened to them once they were on the bench.

Quiz questions

1. As a coach, Phil Jackson won 11 NBA titles with the Bulls and the Lakers. He also has two championship rings from his playing days. With which team?

   • Baltimore Bullets
   • Milwaukee Bucks
   • New York Knicks
   • Boston Celtics
   Answer

   New York Knicks. Jackson is credited with the Knicks' 1970 and 1973 titles. He missed the whole 1969-70 season after back surgery, but in 1973 he was a key reserve.

2. Game 1 of the 2001 Finals. Allen Iverson hits a jumper over a Lakers guard, who falls, and Iverson pointedly steps over him. Fifteen years later that guard coached the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2016 title. Who is he?

   • Tyronn Lue
   • Derek Fisher
   • Brian Shaw
   • Ron Harper
   Answer

   Tyronn Lue was the Lakers reserve guarding Iverson in that overtime game, which Philadelphia won 107-101. The Lakers then won the next four games and the title.

3. Gregg Popovich and Mike Krzyzewski both coached the US national team. What else do they share from their playing days?

   • Both played in Italy before they started coaching
   • Both were drafted by the same NBA team
   • Both played professionally in the ABA
   • Both played at US military academies and then served in the armed forces
   Answer

   Both played at US military academies and then served in the armed forces. Popovich played at the Air Force Academy and served five years in the Air Force. Krzyzewski played for Bob Knight at Army, the West Point academy, and served in the US Army until 1974.

4. In the late 1990s he coached FR Yugoslavia to Olympic silver in 1996, EuroBasket gold in 1997 and the world title in 1998. Before that he had spent a few years as Dušan Ivković's assistant. Who is he?

   • Božidar Maljković
   • Svetislav Pešić
   • Duško Vujošević
   • Željko Obradović
   Answer

   Željko Obradović coached the national team from 1996 to 2000 and added EuroBasket bronze in 1999. In all, he has won the EuroLeague nine times with five different clubs.

5. All four of these men have won the EuroLeague as head coaches. Three of them had professional playing careers first. Which one never played professionally?

   • Željko Obradović
   • Šarūnas Jasikevičius
   • Ettore Messina
   • Svetislav Pešić
   Answer

   Ettore Messina was coaching youth teams in Venice at about 17 and went on to win the EuroLeague four times. Svetislav Pešić even won the European Cup as a player, with Bosna Sarajevo in 1979.

6. November 2013. Brooklyn's rookie head coach is out of timeouts, so he quietly tells a player: 'Hit me.' The player bumps into him, the coach's drink spills on the court, and the game stops while it is mopped up. The NBA fined him $50,000. Who was the coach?

   • Jason Kidd
   • Derek Fisher
   • Mark Jackson
   • Steve Nash
   Answer

   Jason Kidd had retired as a player only months earlier. The trick did not even work: Brooklyn lost to the Lakers 99-94. In 2024 Kidd coached the Dallas Mavericks to the Finals.

7. Only a handful of people have been inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame twice, once as a player and once as a coach. Three of these four are among them. Which one was inducted only as a coach, even though he also won a title as a player?

   • Lenny Wilkens
   • Bill Sharman
   • Tom Heinsohn
   • Pat Riley
   Answer

   Pat Riley was a reserve on the 1972 champion Lakers and entered the Hall in 2008 as a coach. The double inductees also include John Wooden and Bill Russell.

8. As a player, Šarūnas Jasikevičius won the EuroLeague with Barcelona, Maccabi and Panathinaikos. In May 2025 in Abu Dhabi he won it for the first time as a head coach. With which club?

   • Barcelona
   • Fenerbahçe
   • Žalgiris Kaunas
   • Olympiacos
   Answer

   Fenerbahçe beat Monaco 81-70 in the final for the club's second title after 2017. Jasikevičius had come close with Barcelona, losing the 2021 final to Anadolu Efes.

9. A hard-nosed guard, his number 4 was the first jersey the Chicago Bulls ever retired. He went on to coach one team for 23 seasons, and both of his trips to the Finals ended in defeat against the Bulls. Who is he?

   • Doug Collins
   • Rick Adelman
   • Larry Brown
   • Jerry Sloan
   Answer

   Jerry Sloan coached the Utah Jazz from 1988 to 2011 and lost the 1997 and 1998 Finals to Jordan's Bulls. Strangely, he was never named Coach of the Year.

10. He never played professionally. Instead he spent 13 seasons as Željko Obradović's assistant at Panathinaikos, then went out on his own and won the EuroLeague twice with CSKA Moscow, in 2016 and 2019. Who is he?

    • Dimitris Itoudis
    • Georgios Bartzokas
    • Dimitris Priftis
    • Ergin Ataman
    Answer

    Dimitris Itoudis was Obradović's right-hand man at Panathinaikos from 1999 to 2012, a spell with five EuroLeague titles. Georgios Bartzokas won the EuroLeague too, with Olympiacos in 2013.

Previous quiz: Larry Bird (5 October 2026) · Next quiz: Strange but true (7 October 2026)

More basketball quizzes

• Nicknames (4 October 2026)
• The stories behind the scores (3 October 2026)
• Team USA (2 October 2026)
• Work it out (1 October 2026)

Today's basketball quiz · All basketball quizzes · Basketball facts · How to play