How 6 Hall of Fame players transitioned to head coaching

With the Brooklyn Nets announcing their hiring of 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Steve Nash as head coach, it's worth looking back at other high-profile players who have made the jump to the sidelines.

Here are six other Naismith Hall of Famers who transitioned into head coaching with varying degrees of success.

Tom Heinsohn

Inducted: 1986 as a player; 2015 as a coach
Coached: Celtics (1969-78)

Heinsohn spent his entire playing career with the Boston Celtics, collecting eight titles in nine years as a tertiary star flanking the likes of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones.

He certainly earned the trust and respect of his former bench boss, Red Auerbach, who, as general manager, hired the 35-year-old Heinsohn as head coach after Russell's three-year run as player-coach from 1966-69.

Heinsohn kept the good times rolling in Boston, amassing a 427-263 (.619) record in nine seasons, with a Coach of the Year award in 1973 and titles in '74 and '76.

Of course, Heinsohn can't be credited entirely for the franchise's success; Auerbach, the architect, remained in his top executive role throughout Heinsohn's coaching run - and coaching Havlicek and Dave Cowens through the 1970s was a recipe for success.

Still, he and the next entry on the list are among four people inducted into the Hall of Fame as both a player and coach.

Lenny Wilkens

Inducted: 1989 as a player; 1998 as a coach
Coached: 6 teams, most prominently SuperSonics (1969-72; 1978-85)

Wilkens had already established himself as one of the stars of his era when he assumed player-coach duties with the Seattle SuperSonics in his age-32 campaign. The 6-foot-1 point guard was named to seven All-Star Games in his first nine NBA seasons.

He'd occupy that player-coach role for three seasons in Seattle, then one more with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1974-75 before trading in his sneakers for dress shoes for good. In his first three seasons as a full-time head coach - one in Portland and two back in Seattle - Wilkens went 131-93 (.585), earning back-to-back Finals appearances and the SuperSonics' lone championship win in 1979.

He'd add long stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, then a pair of shorter spells with the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks to close out his career with a then-record 1,332 career coaching wins.

Larry Bird

Inducted: 1998 as a player; 2010 as member of the "Dream Team"
Coached: Pacers (1997-2000)

After his playing days wrapped up in 1992, Bird spent five years as a special assistant in the Celtics' front office. When his home-state Indiana Pacers came calling in 1997, "Larry Legend" vowed to be on the job for no more than three years.

Despite not boasting traditional coaching experience, success came quickly for Bird; as a rookie bench boss, he was named NBA Coach of the Year, improving the Reggie Miller-led Pacers to 58 wins in 1997-98 after the team won just 39 games under Larry Brown in the previous campaign.

Indiana returned to the conference finals in the strike-shortened 1999 season, then broke through with a Finals appearance in 2000, where it suffered defeat to Shaq and Kobe's Los Angeles Lakers.

True to his word, Bird resigned following the conclusion of his third season. He has yet to coach another NBA team.

Magic Johnson

Inducted: 2002 as a player; 2010 as member of the "Dream Team"
Coached: Lakers (1993-94)

Johnson shocked the sporting world by retiring following his age-31 season in 1990-91 - a year in which he guided his Lakers to a Finals duel versus Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls - after announcing his HIV diagnosis.

In the two years following Magic's abrupt departure, the once-dynastic Lakers produced back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since the mid-1970s. With 1993-94 following a similar trajectory, the team fired head coach Randy Pfund in March 1994, ultimately bringing Johnson back to coach down the stretch.

After going 5-1 in his first six coaching appearances, the Lakers finished the year on a 0-10 skid. Johnson announced he wouldn't return as head coach in 1994-95, though he'd make an on-court comeback during the 1995-96 season (hence why his Hall of Fame induction was delayed until 2002).

Isiah Thomas

Inducted: 2000 as a player
Coached: Pacers (2000-03); Knicks (2006-08)

By the time the Pacers tabbed former Detroit Pistons great Isiah Thomas to succeed Bird as head coach in 2000, the former point guard had already established his post-playing career with a stint as a Raptors minority owner and vice president when the team joined the league in 1995.

But with Reggie Miller now 35, Thomas was unable to capitalize on the Pacers' streak of conference finals appearances. The team dropped to 41-41 in his first year and only improved to 42-40 in Year 2.

Jermaine O'Neal's ascendance to All-Star status somewhat compensated for Miller's decline, and the team improved to 48-34 in 2002-03, but it wasn't enough to save Thomas' job; Bird returned to the franchise as an executive and replaced Thomas with his former Celtics teammate, Rick Carlisle.

Thomas found less success in his second go-around as an NBA head coach, producing a 56-108 (.341) record with the New York Knicks from 2006-08.

Jason Kidd

Inducted: 2018 as a player
Coached: Nets (2013-14); Bucks (2014-18)

The Brooklyn Nets learned the hard way that old alliances don't count for much in today's NBA.

After hiring former New Jersey Nets floor general Jason Kidd straight off the conclusion of his playing career in 2013, the relocated Nets franchise had high expectations for their newly assembled core of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Brook Lopez.

To Kidd's credit, the team did post a 44-38 record in 2013-14 and upset the higher-seeded Raptors in the first round of the playoffs, but a 4-1 series loss to Miami's last "Heatles" team in the Eastern semis spelled the end of Kidd's tenure.

After attempting to gain greater control of the franchise in a botched front-office coup, Kidd left to coach the Milwaukee Bucks, where he barfed up a 139-152 (.478) record across three-and-a-half seasons. He's currently an assistant on Frank Vogel's Lakers staff.