MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat have agreed to a contract extension, ensuring the longest-tenured coach in franchise history will continue to break team records for years to come.
Spoelstra and the team have agreed to an eight-year extension, according to a person familiar with the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the terms were not disclosed publicly.
His contract is worth more than $120 million, According to ESPN.
Spoelstra's current contract expires at the end of this season.
Spoelstra is in his 16th season as head coach in Miami and 29th season overall with the franchise. He started working in the video room, eventually becoming a scout, then an assistant coach, and then in April 2008, Pat became Riley's hand-picked successor as head coach.
Spoelstra was 24 years old when he arrived in Miami.
He is now 53 years old and has three NBA championship rings, two of which have come as Miami's head coach.
Spoelstra is the second-longest tenured current coach in the league, behind San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, who is in his 28th season as the Spurs' coach.
Spoelstra's 725 regular-season wins rank 19th in NBA history, and the only coaches to have won more games with a franchise than Spoelstra with the Heat are Popovich of the Spurs, Jerry Sloan of Utah, Boston's Red Auerbach is the only one.
Spoelstra is also an assistant coach for the USA Basketball team this Olympic cycle and will be part of head coach Steve Kerr's staff at this summer's Paris Games.
Spoelstra is likely to be one of the front-runners to take over the Olympic team for the next cycle, culminating in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“We value sweat and effort,” Spoelstra said before this season started. “That's when no one's looking. There's a saying in the Heat: 'There's beauty in the effort, there's beauty in the sweat.' It's about what's happening behind the scenes. ”
Among Spoelstra's highlights were his 27-game winning streak en route to a 66-16 season in 2012-13 (this streak was the second-longest in NBA history), his 27-game winning streak with the team in 2012 and 2013; There are NBA titles, etc. Led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, they won the NBA Coach of the Month award nine times.
During Spoelstra's tenure in Miami, no manager in the league has won more postseason games. He has 109, 10 more than Kerr had with Golden State.
The Heat value stability, and few franchises in sports enjoy as much stability as Miami.
The franchise has had only six coaches in its 36 years. Ron Rothstein served as the original coach for three years, followed by Kevin Robbery for part of four years before Alvin Gentry took over on an interim basis following the 1994-95 season.
It was then that Riley came to Miami from New York.
He coached until 2003, when he promoted Stan Van Gundy from assistant to head coach.
Van Gundy resigned after 21 games of his third season and Riley returned to the bench and led the Heat to their first NBA title in 2006, but after the 2007-08 season Riley resigned again and was replaced by Spoelstra. I handed over the job.
There have been no further changes since then.
Spoelstra passed Riley (454) as the franchise wins leader in December 2017 and now has nearly as many wins as the Heat's other five coaches combined.
“We've had incredible stability and consistency over the years,” Spoelstra said this fall when asked why he stayed with the Heat so long. “I'm very lucky to work for this company.”
