Rick Carlisle has parlayed the Indiana Pacers’ Eastern Conference title into a new contract. The Pacers and Carlisle have agreed on a multiyear extension, according to ESPN.
The 65-year-old Carlisle just completed his fourth season as the Pacers’ coach. After winning a combined 60 games during his first two seasons, Carlisle guided Indiana to consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances that includes the franchise’s first conference title since 2000. The 2024-25 Pacers were one win away from capturing the franchise’s first NBA title. Indiana fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
An NBA lifer, Carlisle won an NBA title as a player on the 1986 Boston Celtics, one of the greatest teams in NBA history. While his playing career was short, Carlisle has enjoyed a lengthy career as a coach that started way back in 1989.
Carlisle’s 11 seasons as an assistant included an eastern conference title with the 1999-00 Pacers while working under former Celtics teammate Larry Bird. He got his first head-coaching gig with the Detroit Pistons in 2001 but was fired after two years despite winning 50 regular-season games each season.
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After being fired in Detroit, Carlisle returned to Indiana, where he replaced Bird as the Pacers’ new coach. His first stint as the Pacers’ coach lasted four years and included three trips to the playoffs.
Carlisle’s coaching career didn’t really take off until he went to Dallas ahead of the 2008-09 season. During his third season with the Mavericks, Carlisle led the franchise to its first NBA title, a six-game series win over the LeBron James-led Miami Heat. Carlisle would go onto spend 13 seasons as the Mavericks’ coach.
This season, Carlisle has a chance to take sole possession of 10th place on the all-time list of playoff wins by an NBA coach. Ironically, his 81 playoff wins is currently tied with his former coach in Boston, K.C. Jones, who guided the Celtics to the NBA title in 1984 and ’86.