San Antonio Spurs head coach and president Gregg Popovich has been away from the team since November after he suffered a mild stroke. On Thursday, Popovich held an in-person meeting with Spurs players, confirming the news that he would not be returning to coach the team for the remainder of the season. The meeting was reported to be very emotional, as it was the first time he had met with his players since suffering the stroke. Popovich has been with the Spurs since 1996, coaching greats like David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, and Victor Wembanyama. He is the longest-tenured coach in NBA history, winning five championships in the process.
Entering this season, San Antonio was ready to make waves in the Western Conference, with Wembanyama entering his second year and adding players like veteran Chris Paul and rookie Stephon Castle. Popovich coached the Spurs for the first five games of the season, going 2-3 in that early stretch. Prior to the team’s November 2nd matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Popovich was taken to the hospital with what was originally reported as an unspecified illness. Less than two weeks later, the team came out with an official statement that the coach had suffered a minor stroke and had no immediate timetable for a return.
In the meantime, San Antonio announced that assistant coach Mitch Johnson would become interim head coach while Popovich was out. For the next few months, the Spurs saw some relative success, considering the circumstances. Led by Wembanyama alongside Paul, Castle, Harrison Barnes, Devin Vassell, and Keldon Johnson, they had an 8-6 record in November and a 7-7 record in December. They reached up to the eighth seed in the West, but since the start of the New Year, things have slowly gone downhill, as they lost eight of their 12 games in January.
San Antonio made a big move in trading for De’Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings before the deadline. It was an addition to pair a young star with Wembanyama in hopes of strengthening the long-term goals of the team. Since that acquisition, the team has gone 3-7, and though Fox was performing well, it wasn’t a recipe for wins.
Most recently, the Spurs announced that Wembanyama would be out for the remainder of the season after discovering he was suffering from blood clots in his right shoulder. In what was already a somber season for San Antonio health-wise with Popovich out, and the loss of their franchise star meant that nearly all hopes for a playoff run were out the window. Last week, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Popovich would not be expected to return to coaching the team for the rest of the season. That assumption was verified on Thursday, as Popovich met with Spurs players to confirm that he wouldn’t return this year.
In what was originally a promising start to the season, San Antonio is now without their Hall of Fame coach and franchise cornerstone for at least the rest of the season. Despite making moves at the trade deadline and drafting hopeful rookies, they’ll now look to the 2025 NBA Draft and next season as a whole. They are currently 24-33 and 13th in the Western Conference, seven games back from a spot in the playoffs.
Popovich is the longest-tenured coach in NBA history, leading the Spurs since the start of the 1996-97 season. He’s won five titles and reached the Finals six times, is the most-winning coach in league history, and has won Coach of the Year three times. He is one of only three coaches to win at least five championships, led the Spurs to become the highest winning-percentage team in NBA history, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023.
“He (Popovich), I think is one of the best, if not the best,” Paul said about Popovich earlier this season. “He’s so selfless and he makes sure we understand how privileged we are to play this game and to be in the NBA…All the guys within our team, staff, everyone definitely miss(es) him because he’s Pop.”
What he has accomplished in San Antonio is nothing short of amazing, and though he is the oldest coach in the league, it looked like he had new life when the team drafted Wembanyama in 2023. He even agreed to a five-year contract extension with the team in the same year. The Spurs hadn’t reached their peak as seen in the 2000s and early 2010s, but with one of the best prospects ever paired up with one of the best coaches ever, it looked like anything was possible.
Since then, however, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan. San Antonio finished 14th in the West last year, and it looks like they’ll end in a similar spot by the time this season wraps up. Wembanyama has shown signs of being an all-time great player, but his most recent injury closes the door on that for the time being.
Currently, Popovich has not outlined a plan for his future, and though he signed an extension, there is no guarantee he will return to coaching.
Popovich is with no question one of the best basketball coaches in the history of the sport and helped turn the San Antonio Spurs into an institution of the highest regard around the league. For NBA fans, it was concerning to hear the news in November that he’d had a mild stroke, and since then, not a whole lot of information has come out surrounding his status.
His only public comment before the most recent news came a few months ago when he said he and his family were overwhelmed by the amount of support they received throughout the process. With no current plan in place for Popovich and his future with the team, things remain uncertain for the Spurs as a whole. Johnson will continue to be the team’s interim coach for the rest of the season, but it is unknown if the Spurs will keep him for next season or look for another replacement. For the time being, San Antonio’s only goal is to focus on the health and well-being of both their bright star in Wembanyama and their legendary coach in Popovich.
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