Van Gundy previously served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Van Gundy won an NBA championship in 2024 with the Boston Celtics where he served as a senior consultant in the front office.

[3] As a high school point guard, Van Gundy was a two-time All Greater Rochester selection in 1979 and 1980, leading Brockport to the Class AA finals.

[5] Van Gundy began his basketball coaching career during the 1985–86 season, at McQuaid Jesuit High School, in Rochester, New York.

He spent the next six-and-a-half seasons providing support to Knicks head coaches Stu Jackson (1989–1990), John MacLeod (1990–1991), Pat Riley (1991–1995), and Don Nelson (1995–1996).

When the Heat's center Alonzo Mourning and the Knicks' power forward Larry Johnson engaged in a bench-clearing brawl, Van Gundy unsuccessfully tried to break the fight up.

The win propelled an improbable run for the Knicks, as they swept the Hawks in the semifinals, and defeated the Pacers in six games, to advance to the NBA Finals.

[17] McGrady and Yao missed a combined 70 games due to injury in the 2005–06 season, and Van Gundy did not make the playoffs for the first time in his NBA head coaching career.

In May 2005, Van Gundy was fined $100,000 by the NBA, for accusing referees of targeting Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.

The Rockets went on a late season run, on the back of a resurgence from McGrady, but another first round playoff loss, this time to the Utah Jazz, sealed Van Gundy's fate as the team's head coach.

[20] On October 14, 2023, the Boston Celtics announced that Van Gundy had joined the team as a senior consultant to the basketball operations division.

He called games as a color commentator with play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and Mark Jackson, including the NBA Finals 15 times.

[28] On May 8, 2011, Van Gundy received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, from his alma mater, Nazareth University, during the college's 84th Annual Commencement Ceremony.