Phil Jackson – 75

One of the most celebrated icons of the National Basketball Association is no other than Phil Jackson. As a player, he played the position of power forward for 12 seasons, and he won the NBA championship in 1970 and 1973. After his playing days, he quickly maneuvered into coaching, in which he was also widely successful, eventually winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls in the ‘90s and five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2000s. Without a doubt, Jackson has had an illustrious career that revolved around basketball for several decades.

Phil credits his coaching success to Tex Winter, who applied the triangle offense. He used Winter’s basketball philosophy with his own holistic approach that was influenced by Eastern philosophy. Phil was one of the calmest coaches in NBA history, and he’s earned the nickname “Zen Master.” Today, he is now 75 years old and has mainly stepped away from basketball after being dismissed as the team executive for the Knicks back in 2017.

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