The End of an Era in San Antonio
It’s been announced by Shams Charania that the long-time head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, will no longer be coaching the team and will be transitioning to the team’s president of basketball operations. It’s officially the end of an era in San Antonio. After 29 years as the head coach of the Spurs, we’ll finally see some fresh blood in this San Antonio team. The team announced that assistant and interim head coach for the 2024-2025 season, Mitch Johnson, will be the newest head coach of the franchise. Popovich started with the Spurs in 1996, helping this team go on to win five NBA Championships during his time with present and future Hall of Fame players on his roster. The likes of Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginóbili, and Kawhi Leonard have made Popovich the most prominent coach in the league on multiple occasions.
The three-time NBA Coach of the Year is now 76 years old. During the 2024-2025 NBA season, Popovich suffered a stroke on November 2nd. Months later, during a team meeting, he announced he would not be coaching the team for the remainder of the season. San Antonio finished this past season in 13th place within the West at 34-48. They seemed like they were on the verge of being a playoff team at one point until injuries to Victor Wembanyama and their newly acquired point guard from the Trade Deadline, De’Aaron Fox.
Popovich is a five-time champion coach, helping the Spurs win in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. In 1999, a third-year power forward by the name of Tim Duncan and their multi-time all-star center David Robinson defeated the New York Knicks in five games to win the Spurs’ first franchise championship. A few years later, in 2003, a more experienced Duncan and an older Robinson and two young players, Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili, defeated the New Jersey Nets in six games to obtain their second championship. During the 2005 NBA Finals, the team consisting of Duncan, Parker, and Ginóbili defeated the previous year’s NBA champion Detroit Pistons in seven games. Two years later, they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by a young LeBron James. Their final championship reign came at the expense of beating the Miami Heat’s big three and saw the rise of a future multi-time all-star in Kawhi Leonard.
Gregg Popovich has obtained the most regular-season wins as a head coach with 1,422. No active coach from today is not even close to the top 10. The 76-year-old has cemented himself as one of, if not the greatest, head coach in NBA history. It will be interesting to see what Popovich can do within this newfound role.
