FILIPINO-American Erik Spoelstra has agreed to an eight-year coaching contract extension with Miami Heat, making him the longest-tenured coach in franchise history.
The terms of the deal for the 16-year Miami mentor was not released by the Heat, but according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Spoelstra’s contract is worth more than $120 million.
Spoelstra is in his 29th season overall with the franchise as he started in the Miami’s video room and eventually becoming a scout, an assistant coach.
Spoelstra, who traced his roots from San Pablo City in Laguna, started his coaching career with the Heat in April 2008 after being personally hand-picked by Pat Riley to be his successor.
As a coach, one of Spoelstra’s notable highlights is a 27-game winning streak in the 2012-13 season. The winning streak was the second-longest such run in NBA history.
Spoelstra also steered the Heat to back-to-back NBA championships in 2012 and 2013 behind the trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
As Miami’s coach, Spoelstra passed Riley (454) as the franchise’s win leader in December 2017 and now has nearly as many wins as the other five Heat coaches combined.
“We’ve had incredible stability and consistency over the years,” Spoelstra said when asked about how he’s remained with the Heat for so long. “I’ve been very fortunate to work for who I work for.”
“We have a saying at the Heat: ‘There’s a beauty in the grind, there’s a beauty in the sweat.’ That’s about what happens behind the scenes,” added the Heat coach.
Spoelstra is also an assistant coach for USA Basketball in this Olympic cycle and will be part of head coach Steve Kerr’s staff at the Paris Games this summer./PN
