It’s the end of an era in the NBA.
Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s all-time winningest-coach who led the Spurs to five NBA championships and Team USA to an Olympic Gold Medal at the 2020 Games, will step down as coach and transition to solely being the team’s president, the team announced on Friday. The news was first reported by ESPN.
Popovich, 76, was the longest tenured coach in North American sports, coaching the Spurs for 29 years, starting in 1996. He suffered a stroke in November and was away from the team for the rest of the regular season with assistant coach Mitch Johnson serving as interim coach. Johnson was named as Popovich’s replacement on Friday, shortly after news of his boss’s transition was announced.
With Popovich stepping aside, Kerr (Warriors) and Erik Spoelstra (Heat) are the only active NBA head coaches who have coached their teams since before 2020. Popovich was the NBA’s highest-paid head coach after signing a five-year contract extension in July 2023 that reportedly totalled more than $80 million. It’s unknown how Popovich’s contract will change, if at all, with his coaching career concluding.
By hiring Johnson, the organization hopes to establish continuity as the team turns its attention to contending with Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, his new running mate, who the team traded for in February.
Wembanyama, the 21-year-old French center, is considered to be the future face of the NBA with players such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant all in the twilights of their careers. The Spurs took Wembanyama No. 1 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft and the team was moving toward a postseason berth before blood clots prematurely ended the 7-foot-3 center’s season in February. As the NBA faces a changing of the guard in the coming years, the Spurs are viewed as a big part of the league’s future with Wembanyama there. Now the organization and league will have to move on without Popovich on the sidelines anymore.
Popovich is a pillar in the modern NBA. He won multiple titles behind the combination of drafting well and player development, turning under-the-radar players into contributors. When he became head coach, the team had franchise center David Robinson and a year into his tenure, and won the draft lottery and selected Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick. Duncan would lead the team to five titles and Popovich’s player development concepts would be copied around the league while his assistants and former players, such as Doc Rivers, Steve Kerr, and Ime Udoka have all gone on to have success with other franchises.
