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Former Lakers HC Receives Prestigious Lifetime Honor

Given to a deserving recipient.

Eva Geitheim

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Rudy Tomjanovich has been awarded the 2024 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. Tomjanovich, who played in the NBA for 11 years before becoming a coach, wins the award after a Hall of Fame coaching career.

“I am honored to receive the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award,” Tomjanovich said, via the NBA Basketball Coaches Association. “I have to admit, I was taken by surprise because I did not know I was in the running for it. I was with my son Trey when I got the call from Rick Carlisle telling me about receiving this great award. Trey saw the expression on my face and the emotion in my eyes. As Rick told me about some of the past winners of this award, all coaches that I admired and respected, then explained what principles the award stood for: a coach’s standard of integrity, competitive excellence, and tireless promotion of the game of basketball, I got choked up and humbled. I did not know what to say."

“This is one of the greatest honors a coach can receive, voted by your peers," Tomjanovich added. "You’ve touched a lot of people. You have been innovative and changed the game in a positive way. You deserve this award. It took everything I had not to burst out crying in front of my son, not that I wouldn’t, I didn’t want to scare him because he didn’t know what the call was about. He kept asking what’s wrong. I explained when I hung up."

Tomjanovich primarily coached the Houston Rockets during his career, which was the same team he played for. He was an assistant coach for the Rockets from 1982-93, before becoming their head coach in 1992, a role he served until 2003.

He led the Rockets to their only two NBA championships in 1994 and 1995 and coached star Hakeem Olajuwon during his 1994 NBA MVP-winning season.

Tomjanovich went on to coach the Lakers in 2004-05, but resigned just 43 games into his tenure due to exhaustion. He finished his NBA coaching career with a 527-416 record, or a .559 win percentage. In addition to his NBA coaching pursuis, he led Team USA to a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva graduated from UCLA in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in Communication. She has been covering college and professional sports since 2022.

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