Indiana Pacers officially announce a multi-year contract extension with 65-year-old coach Rick Carlisle

Indiana Pacers officially announced that they have reached a multi-year contract extension with 65-year-old coach Rick Carlisle, with an annual salary of more than 10 million US dollars! The oldest NBA coach who just led the team to return to the Finals after 25 years and will continue to write his legendary career.

Carlisle's coaching resume is brilliant - he has 993 wins and 860 losses in the regular season. He will become the 11th NBA coach with 10th wins in NBA history at the beginning of next season; he ranks 10th in history for 86 wins in the playoffs, second only to Rivers, Spole and Cole in active service.

What's more amazing is that after Popovich retired and Thibodde was fired, he has become the oldest head coach in the league and can be called a living fossil.

But few people know that Carlisle's career is not outstanding - he was selected by the Celtics with the 70th pick in the third round in 1984, with averaging only 2.2 points per game in his career. His only highlight was that he won the championship with the team in 1986.

However, after becoming a coach, he completely broke out: he became an assistant coach at the age of 30, and won the Best Coach in the first season in 2001 (50 wins and 32 losses, winning 18 more games).

His coaching career is full of drama. When coaching the Pacers in 2004, he lost the opportunity to compete for the championship due to the "Auben Hill Incident". After being fired in 2007, he turned to the Mavericks. In 2011, he led Nowitzki to win the championship with the three giants of the Heat, establishing his position as a famous coach.

In 2021, he returned to the Pacers for 4 years and $29 million. At that time, the team did not even make the playoffs; four years later, he actually brought the bottom team into the finals and fought the Thunder for seven games before losing.

Pacers basketball operations president Kevin Pritchard praised: "Carlisle is the core of our success. He has made the team from a 25-win bad team to a finals powerhouse!" Carlisle responded: "Indiana is a special place, let's go!"

The new season, Carlisle will face severe challenges - the core Halliburton's Achilles tendon is reimbursed due to a torn Achilles tendon, center Turner defected to the Bucks, and the team's strength has been greatly reduced. But this contract renewal proves that the Pacers believe that he can turn decay into magic. As the fans said: "With Carlisle there, there is hope for the playoffs!"

From a 70th pick to a coach with an annual salary of tens of millions, Carlisle's story perfectly interprets the journey of no end in life, only a continuous restart.