The Gregg Popovich basketball renowned temple will no longer be a head coach of the San Antonio Spurs and will go to a full-time role as president of the basketball operations team, sources told ESPN on Friday.
Popovich, 76, has been at the Front Office des Spurs since May 1994 and has been a head coach since the 1996-1997 season. The legendary coach is the NBA career victory leader with 1,422 regular season victories and guided the Spurs to five NBA championships. Popovich is also a triple winner of the NBA coach of the year, tied with Don Nelson and Pat Riley for the most in the history of the League.
Popovich underwent a light stroke on November 2 and did not return during the season. Deputy coach Mitch Johnson took over and led San Antonio to a record of 31-45 under his watch.
Popovich was involved throughout the spurs’ off -season and will continue to be a vital member of the daily operations of the franchise, sources said.
Popovich has even been present in Spurs’ facilities in recent days, and as much as he wanted to go home on the sidelines, he came to the conclusion that he could no longer go ahead with the tax version to be head coach of the NBA, sources said. He has made regular progress with his health in November, added sources.
Popovich began his spurs career as an assistant to Larry Brown in 1988, playing this role for four seasons before a brief passage under Nelson with the Golden State Warriors. He has been the Spurs head coach since December 1996, when he dismissed Bob Hill after a departure from 3-15 and took over on the bench. After San Antonio missed the playoffs this season and won the choice No. 1, taking Tim Duncan, Popovich led the Spurs to 22 consecutive seasons of qualifying series from 1998 to 2019, in particular by winning at least 50 games in 18 consecutive campaigns.
He ranks third in all time in the career as a series of playoffs and is one of the five coaches to win at least five titles with Phil Jackson (11), Red Auerbach (Nine), John Kundla (five) and Riley (five).
Popovich is credited as a pillar of Spurs, in partnership with Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard through an era of the Dynasty Championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014.
Popovich had an emotional meeting with the players of the Spurs on February 27, and he published a statement at that time that he would not return this season, but hoped to return to the future. He was hospitalized on April 15 after a medical incident in a local restaurant in San Antonio, but returned home in the days that followed and felt much better.
Popovich had been the oldest coach in the history of the NBA. He accepted a five-year contract extension with the team in 2023. He was also a head coach of the United States Men’s Men’s Men’s Men’s Men’s Championships 2019 and the Tokyo Olympic Championships, where the United States has won its fourth consecutive gold medal.
Popovich holding back as a coach, the title of the longest active coach in the NBA fell to Erik Spoelstra, who has led Miami Heat since the 2008-09 season. Spoelstra and Popovich faced the consecutive NBA finals in 2013 and 2014, each winning once. The next longest coach is Steve Kerr, who won the last two of his five championships as a Popovich player before embarking on a successful coach career with the Warriors in 2014.
