Inside Gregg Popovich’s unparalleled NBA legacy San Antonio Spurs

YEARS BEFORE RISING to the submit of NBA commissioner in 2014, Adam Silver spent eight years because the president of NBA Leisure, the place he helmed the league’s advertising and manufacturing arm, charged with overseeing movies, documentaries, spotlight reels and extra.

His tenure spanned eight years within the late-Nineteen Nineties by way of the mid-2000s, a stretch bookended by the tip of the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty below Michael Jordan and the rise and fall of the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant period with the Los Angeles Lakers.

With these two storylines alone, Silver’s division lacked little in the best way of compelling materials to assist develop the sport: world superstars, main markets, outsized drama. However at that very same time, a group that featured none of these traits emerged as an inescapable pressure upon the league: the small-market San Antonio Spurs, coached by a sharp-tongued former Air Pressure cadet named Gregg Popovich.

Someday within the late Nineteen Nineties, Silver informed ESPN, the telephone rang in his workplace — and Popovich, who grew to become the Spurs’ coach in 1996, was on the opposite finish.

ABC had simply broadcast a promotional spot for a Spurs playoff recreation that featured one participant above everybody else, Silver mentioned, and Popovich had referred to as to make his displeasure identified.

“He yelled at me!” Silver mentioned. “His level was you’ve got by no means run a group and don’t know how even what looks as if a small difficulty to you may disrupt the chemistry of my group.”

Silver was hardly the primary, or the final, to really feel Popovich’s wrath, one which was unleashed on Spurs gamers and workers, NBA referees, league officers, reporters and anybody else who entered his notorious crosshairs. However Silver, years later, thought-about the purpose Popovich sought to make.

“It spoke to Pop’s enduring perception that no particular person participant is larger than the group, and the depth and a spotlight to element essential to win championships,” Silver mentioned. “And in typical Pop style, he by no means sought credit score for what his groups achieved or the position he performed in growing generations of gamers and coaches. The best way he led with honesty and humility is an enormous a part of his extraordinary success as a head coach on this league for almost 30 years — though he actually might be very direct when want be.”

Popovich’s 29-year run because the Spurs’ head coach formally ended Friday, when the 76-year-old Corridor of Famer, five-time NBA champion and league’s all-time winningest coach introduced his transition to specializing in his position because the group’s president of basketball operations. His determination got here after he suffered a stroke in mid-November, after which Mitch Johnson changed him on the sideline, first on an interim foundation, then taking up the everlasting job on Friday.

As he steps away, Popovich’s affect on the sport stays indelible. He led a sustained run of title-contending groups whereas others rose and fell, teaching the Spurs to an unprecedented 22 straight playoff appearances. He helped construct a world scouting operation lengthy earlier than doing so grew to become commonplace. He has gained extra video games and has acquired extra accolades and acclaim than maybe any coach of any sport in American historical past. He constructed and led a revered tradition that lasted a long time in small-market San Antonio. Dozens of groups and executives throughout the basketball panorama — in addition to companies exterior it — have tried to emulate it.

He started the cost to strategically relaxation gamers to delay careers — years previous to “load administration” turning into a leaguewide pattern. He established a tree — or, maybe extra precisely, a forest — of teaching and entrance workplace disciples who’ve branched into each nook of the NBA.

And whereas he’d be loath to confess it, his willingness to talk brazenly about problems with race, multiculturalism and his passions away from the sport impressed a era of others to do the identical.

Quickly after the information arrived, tributes and recollections flowed like a deluge, every one including extra texture and shade to the general portrait of one of many NBA’s most unbelievable and enduring figures.

In interviews with coaches, gamers, executives and league officers from all through Popovich’s life, many struggled to completely seize what the long-lasting coach has meant to the league — so far-reaching is his affect, they mentioned, that it appeared past the scope of fast perspective.

However many have been eager to hint the arc of his profession, the methods wherein it intertwined with their very own, and what, to them, he leaves behind.

“He impacted extra folks in our recreation than anyone,” Mike Krzyzewski, the previous Duke and Staff USA coach, informed ESPN.

Stated Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who performed below Popovich for 3 seasons in San Antonio: “I feel all people who’s come throughout him will discuss him for the remainder of their lives.”

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IN THE FALL of 1966 in a gymnasium on the Air Pressure Academy in Colorado Springs, Hank Egan was serving as an assistant coach to Bob Spear, when Popovich, who had graduated months earlier from highschool in Merrillville, Indiana, walked in with a gaggle of different recent cadets.

“We have been looking for out who may do what,” Egan informed ESPN. “And he was feisty.”

A rust-belt son of a Serbian father and Croatian mom, the 6-foot-3 Popovich had been reduce from his highschool group as a sophomore however as a senior had led the Merrillville Pirates in scoring (15 factors per recreation) whereas being named a Calumet Convention all-star in northeast Indiana.

He was well-rounded — a member of the speech and debate group, pupil council, and Nationwide Honor Society. He lettered in basketball, baseball and cross nation. On the academy, Egan instantly noticed how good, aggressive and pushed Popovich was.

Popovich performed for the varsity group his last two seasons, captaining the group as a senior. And all through Popovich’s time there, the 2 would discuss in regards to the future, for a means for Popovich to stay within the recreation, even when it could not be as a participant.

“He got here out of the chute searching for a job,” Egan mentioned. “He did not ask me if he may do it; he informed me what he was going to do.”

Egan sat Popovich down. “It is not glamorous,” he informed him. “It is rewarding, nevertheless it’s not glamorous.”

Egan continued. The job is as a lot about folks because it was about basketball. He’d be away from family members for weeks at a time. It is a powerful enterprise — cutthroat, relentless. Egan warned him. There would not be a lot cash. Popovich did not care, he informed him. “He wasn’t in it for the cash,” Egan mentioned. “He was in it to study the enterprise.”

Egan had given this lecture earlier than. It had scared many straight. However Popovich did not waver: He needed in.

However earlier than his teaching profession started in earnest, Popovich nonetheless aspired to play.

In 1970, he barnstormed throughout Jap Europe on the U.S. Armed Forces all-star basketball group. In summer time 1972, the U.S. Olympic trials have been held on the Air Pressure Academy, and, as ESPN recounted in 2016, Jack Herron Jr., then on the 1972 U.S. Olympic choice committee, pushed to verify Popovich acquired an invite. Corridor of Fame coach Larry Brown, who had simply retired from taking part in and brought the job as the pinnacle coach of the ABA’s Carolina Cougars, attended the exercises and noticed Popovich, one in every of 56 gamers vying for 12 spots, for the primary time. “He was actually, actually athletic,” Brown mentioned. “Actually, actually aggressive. You see him now? The identical means.”

Popovich performed on a trials group coached by Indiana coach Bob Knight however did not make the ultimate roster. (“I have been aggravated about this for nearly 50 years,” Herron informed ESPN in 2016. “Gregg belonged on that group.”)

Two years later, Brown grew to become the Denver Nuggets’ coach and, in 1975, Popovich tried out for them, too.

“I reduce him,” Brown mentioned with fun.

By then, Popovich was additionally serving as an assistant below Egan on the academy, his teaching profession in its infancy.

However Brown all the time remembered Popovich, and when he grew to become the pinnacle coach at Kansas in 1986, he referred to as Popovich, who was then the pinnacle coach at Pomona-Pitzer, a Division III program exterior of Los Angeles. Brown needed Popovich to take a sabbatical season, he informed him, and be a part of the vaunted Jayhawks as a volunteer assistant coach.

Popovich agreed. That workers below Brown included Popovich’s future entrance workplace companion in San Antonio, R.C. Buford, future Corridor of Fame coach Invoice Self, and future NBA coach Alvin Gentry.

“Pop was an incredible contributor,” Brown mentioned. “There was little question in my thoughts that he was going to be an important coach. He cared about youngsters. He needed to study. He wasn’t afraid to share what he felt was proper. All of us benefited by having him round.”

After one season at Kansas, Popovich returned to Pomona-Pitzer. A 12 months later, in June 1988, Brown referred to as once more. Brown had been employed to be the coach of the Spurs, and he needed to see if Popovich would be a part of him as an assistant on his bench.

“Pop did not have an important document at Pomona-Pitzer if you happen to take a look at it,” Brown mentioned. (The group went 2-22 throughout his first season, however, in 1985-86, he guided the Sagehens to their first convention championship in 68 years.) “However the truth that it’s important to coach Division III youngsters and guys on the academy, you are at a drawback proper from the start. You have to spend all of your time attempting to develop gamers. And I feel that is one in every of his best items. He makes folks round him that he coaches higher.”

At 39, and having coached for six years on the academy and 9 extra at Pomona, Popovich accepted Brown’s supply.

“Clearly, this can be a quantum leap from the NCAA Division III to the professionals,” Popovich informed the L.A. Instances in 1988. “There have been in all probability 5,000 individuals who would have needed the job and 50 different folks [Brown] is aware of whom he may have requested. However he requested me. So to get provided the job is kind of flattering.

“It is a fairly large leap, and I am delighted,” Popovich mentioned. “However on the identical time, I am scared to demise.”

Popovich coached gamers exhausting, Brown noticed, however he knew methods to strike a steadiness.

“His best power is he understood the distinction between teaching and criticism,” Brown mentioned. “With him, he may get on you, however you knew he cared. It is one thing I all the time imagine in. The best leaders in any occupation care in regards to the folks they lead and the those that they lead know the caring is real. And I feel that is powerful.”

Brown added, “When gamers know you care and genuinely care, I do not care who it’s, they’re going to do nearly something for you.”

Popovich moved from California to San Antonio along with his spouse and two kids — and commenced the beginning of his tenure with the Spurs, which, minus a brief stint as a Warriors assistant from 1992 to 1994, would stretch nearly three and a half a long time.

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IN JANUARY 1999, Kerr discovered himself in Popovich’s workplace in San Antonio, after agreeing to a sign-and-trade cope with the Spurs. Kerr had gained three consecutive championships with the Bulls, who have been dismantling their dynasty following Jordan’s retirement. Popovich, in the meantime, hadn’t gained any. “He wasn’t ‘Pop’ but,” Kerr informed ESPN. “He was Gregg Popovich.”

“I immediately appreciated him. The whole lot that we learn about him now was true then,” Kerr mentioned. “He has this distinctive capability to attach with folks of any background, any participant, any individual close to him, he can relate.”

It was an uncommon season shortened by the NBA lockout, and it did not start till Feb. 5. The Spurs, with Tim Duncan and David Robinson, began slowly, posting a 6-8 document.

“By some accounts, [Popovich] was on the new seat,” Kerr mentioned. “I keep in mind how effectively he dealt with that in entrance of the group, simply not paying a lot consideration to that and simply getting us centered on methods to get higher. He was extremely fiery, extra so than a decade later, I’d say, as a result of it was a special period. It was a special time and by no means private, however extremely aggressive and fiery and demonstrative and never afraid to mild into Tim Duncan, David Robinson, the remainder of us. However he had a novel means of doing it the place you continue to beloved him afterwards.”

The Spurs went on to win their first championship that season, and all through the run his behavior of deflection started to publicly emerge, pointing to the nice fortune of getting drafted Robinson, first, and later Duncan.

“I do know that Phil [Jackson] was sensible, and I do know that Pop is sensible and it’s important to have the expertise,” Kerr mentioned. “However I really like Pop’s humility. It has all the time been an enormous a part of his persona, his values. His ‘Pound the Rock’ motto is all about modesty, actually. When you concentrate on it, you’ll be able to preserve hitting that factor 99 instances, nevertheless it’s the hundredth [that splits it]. It is ‘sluggish and regular wins the race.’ The whole lot with Pop was values-based. He knew who he was. He knew who he needed his group to be. And all of it match. The whole lot made excellent sense.”

These values have been many, however Kerr singles out two.

“His willingness to talk up on social points,” Kerr mentioned. “Significantly now.”

That was No. 1.

Athletes and coaches have spoken out on such points for many years, Kerr mentioned, however usually, they have been Black, whether or not Invoice Russell, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali or others. For an older White coach to take action, Kerr mentioned, is totally different. There have been others who got here earlier than Popovich on that entrance — Dean Smith at North Carolina and John Wood at UCLA. However the listing is not lengthy.

“He is a really distinctive American patriot.” Kerr mentioned, “Lots of people who’re on the opposite facet of the political spectrum, they might take difficulty with that, however I do not suppose you’ll be able to argue it. He served within the Air Pressure, and he’ll inform you that was a very powerful expertise of his life when it comes to growing him as an individual and his worldview and outlook on life and folks and morality and the whole lot else. After which he used that have to not solely grow to be the coach he grew to become, but in addition to complain in regards to the politics of the very nation that he served.”

The second, Kerr mentioned, was Popovich’s curiosity in, and open-mindedness towards, sports activities science and well being. He was, Kerr mentioned, the primary to strategically relaxation gamers.

It was an costly technique. In 2012, when the Spurs have been fined $250,000 for sending their starters residence forward of a nationally televised recreation in Miami, Popovich did not flinch.

“The league has to know that the science of what we do is an entire lot extra subtle than it was once, and we have now undoubtedly added years to folks,” he informed the San Antonio Categorical-Information in 2017. “So, it is a tradeoff: Do you need to see this man on this one recreation, or do you need to see them for 3 extra years of his profession? And do you need to see him by way of the playoffs as a result of he did not get damage?

Years later, “load administration” was born, the time period and the follow, regardless of rule modifications and resistance from the league itself. The motion, Kerr mentioned, all factors to Popovich.

“Relaxation within the NBA — that was all him.”

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AFTER TEAM USA’S bronze medal end within the 2004 Olympics, longtime Suns govt Jerry Colangelo knew change was mandatory. Staff USA’s displaying had been a nationwide embarrassment, far afield from the requirements set by earlier iterations that delivered gold each 4 years. And the loss was notably stinging for Popovich, who noticed it up shut, as one in every of its assistant coaches.

So in June 2005, two months after turning into Staff USA’s new director, Colangelo gathered the sport’s luminaries on the Italian American Sports activities Corridor of Fame in Chicago. The mission was to discover a new head coach who may restore Staff USA atop its place because the dominant world basketball energy.

In a convention room, Colangelo checked out all the present coaches who had performed an element in Staff USA relationship again to the Sixties. He checked out gamers who had performed on previous Olympic groups. “The Michael Jordans, the Jerry Wests,” he informed ESPN.

Colangelo displayed a board with faculty coaches {and professional} coaches. On the highest of the faculty listing was Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. On the highest of the listing of NBA coaches, there was Popovich, who had been a part of the 2004 workers below Brown. There was consensus throughout the room: These two have been the perfect candidates.

Colangelo referred to as Popovich first, to gauge his curiosity.

“In my thoughts, he did not reveal a number of enthusiasm,” Colangelo mentioned. “Initially, that was his character, which I did not know effectively, and, secondly, he was nonetheless hurting from the expertise of the 12 months earlier than.

“Then, once I referred to as Coach Ok, he nearly jumped by way of the telephone. He was full of pleasure and enthusiasm. And in order that was once I made the choice. I’d meet with Coach Ok. We had dinner in Las Vegas at a restaurant, and by the tip of the night, I had mainly made up my thoughts it was going to be him. However I felt I could not go incorrect both means.”

Colangelo defined his determination publicly, mentioning the uninspiring telephone name with Popovich.

“That actually upset him,” Colangelo mentioned. “He despatched me a letter. I did not knock him. It wasn’t that in any respect. But it surely damage him to see something like that, that form of a reference. And though we have been within the presence of one another for a variety of years, we did not have any relationship.”

Krzyzewski coached Staff USA to gold medals in 2008 and 2012, with a training workers that featured some from the faculty and professional ranks, however not Popovich.

Then, in 2015, with Krzyzewski set to retire because the Staff USA coach the subsequent summer time after the 2016 Rio Olympics, Colangelo needed a successor. He referred to as Popovich. The 2 males met at Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley in Northern California, close to Colangelo’s residence there.

“All it took was us getting collectively over lunch and spending a number of hours collectively, and we patched the whole lot up,” Colangelo mentioned. “And he did need to give it some thought a bit of bit.”

Popovich referred to as him after.

“In order for you me,” he informed Colangelo, “I am in.”

It was an honor Popovich had spent the higher a part of the previous 50 years attempting to realize — merging his love of the sport along with his love of nation. And this time, he’d be main it.

The following summer time in Las Vegas, Popovich and Krzyzewski broke bread for the primary time throughout a Staff USA workers dinner on the Wynn lodge.

By the point they shared a desk, their paths by way of the game have been eerily related.

Each hailed from the Midwest. Each had attended service academies — Popovich the Air Pressure, Krzyzewski the Military. Each had performed below Bob Knight — Krzyzewski at Military, Popovich on the 1972 Olympic Trials. Each had coached the identical groups throughout a long time, sustaining title-contending excellence all through. Each had large passions for meals and wine.

And but, regardless of the corollaries, and the distant mutual respect between them, Popovich and Krzyzewski had by no means spent a lot time collectively.

“I might identified him,” Krzyzewski informed ESPN, “however we weren’t shut.”

Then, they sat down in Las Vegas and talked.

“It was like they’d identified one another eternally,” Colangelo mentioned.

“I feel we have been each ready to grow to be shut mates,” Krzyzewski mentioned.

Krzyzewski had been a eager admirer of Popovich for thus a few years, albeit from afar.

“I’ve all the time studied management my complete life,” Krzyzewski mentioned. “I train [at Duke] and I converse across the nation on management and teamwork and, earlier than I knew him, I admired his management.”

He noticed how Popovich developed deep relationships along with his gamers, how he labored with Robinson and Duncan and constructed a system the place they performed collectively and complemented one another, with the elder Robinson mentoring the youthful Duncan, reasonably than the 2 competing towards one another. He noticed how, over time, gamers took possession of the tradition that Popovich was attempting to determine — how “The Spurs Means” grew to become a perfect that veterans affirmed to new gamers. He noticed how Popovich’s groups shared the ball, how he managed lineups.

Many of those beliefs mirrored Krzyzewski’s at Duke.

“He impacted extra folks in our recreation than anyone,” Krzyzewski mentioned. “He is in all probability essentially the most distinctive coach ever — professional, novice. He is nearly as good as anyone, however I feel you’ll be able to’t be like him. He did so many issues that it is exhausting to imagine one individual may do all that.”

The 2 met in Las Vegas when Popovich was on the town for Staff USA’s coaching camp. Krzyzewski knew the strain of the place as Staff USA’s head coach.

“Until you are sitting in that seat, you do not know the way it feels,” he mentioned. “Everyone seems to be telling you it’ll be a positive factor and all that, and it isn’t a positive factor.”

He believed Popovich may deal with it. And he was proper.

On the sport’s most prestigious world stage, Popovich coached Staff USA to gold within the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. After the gold medal recreation, an 87-82 win towards France, avenging a loss within the group part, Colangelo and Popovich discovered one another. Popovich knew what the second meant — for him, for his nation and for Staff USA.

“Pop felt very relieved,” Colangelo mentioned. “He felt unimaginable strain, in my view, within the championship recreation. When it was over, he and I embraced, and it was a really emotional second.”

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BROWN LIKES TO talk about one of many core tenets of his Corridor of Fame teaching profession, one which stretched almost six a long time earlier than he stepped down from an advisory position on the College of Memphis in 2023 at age 82: offering alternatives to different coaches.

“You are purported to pay it ahead,” Brown mentioned. “That is the entire key.”

It is what a coach can depart behind past wins, losses and different accolades. And as Brown seems to be again over his personal profession, it is maybe the achievement that he appreciates most — with Popovich serving as one in every of a number of beneficiaries.

And as Brown evaluates Popovich’s profession, he appreciates how his former assistant has achieved and prioritized the identical, maybe to a level unparalleled in NBA historical past.

On rosters and in organizations all through the league, Spurs disciples might be discovered, whether or not on teaching staffs, in entrance workplaces or in quite a few different basketball operations departments. Throw a rock in any route, and there is somebody who, sooner or later, handed by way of Popovich’s program in San Antonio.

Utah’s Will Hardy, Houston’s Ime Udoka, Kerr, Atlanta’s Quin Snyder and Milwaukee’s Doc Rivers all have ties to Popovich and the Spurs.

By way of GMs, Oklahoma Metropolis’s Sam Presti and Brooklyn’s Sean Marks are each Spurs alums. And there are numerous different assistant coaches, entrance workplace executives, scouts and basketball operations staffers whose early résumés included a stopover in San Antonio.

However as Colangelo seems to be on the recreation in the present day, he considers one other side of Popovich’s legacy — a special precedence, however one which unquestionably modified the sport.

“He was means forward of many of the league concerning European gamers,” Colangelo mentioned.

Worldwide gamers have been drafted into the NBA relationship again to the Sixties, however doing so was uncommon and sometimes closely scrutinized. The Spurs, nevertheless, pioneered what would quickly grow to be the trendy pattern. They discovered future Corridor of Famers in Manu Ginobili, an Argentine guard taken 57th total — the next-to-last decide — in 1999, and Tony Parker, a French level guard taken twenty eighth a 12 months later.

Because the years progressed, the Spurs continued to closely put money into worldwide scouting overseas, with their locker room that includes totally different cultures, backgrounds and languages, together with gamers from Australia, China, Turkey, Serbia, Italy and Nigeria.

And the extra the Spurs gained, the extra different groups copied them, looking for their very own hidden gems from the world over.

When the 2024-25 season tipped off, there have been 125 worldwide gamers — roughly 1 / 4 of the NBA — from 43 totally different international locations on opening-night rosters. The previous six NBA MVP awards have been bestowed to gamers born exterior the U.S., a pattern that’s assured to proceed this 12 months, with all three finalists — Denver’s Nikola Jokic (who’s going for his fourth), Oklahoma Metropolis’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo — coming from different international locations.

“There have been gamers all around the globe, and folks right here in America simply did not notice it or respect it — or each,” Popovich mentioned in 2023. “Within the ’80s, once I grew to become an assistant coach and came visiting to seek out these gamers or to scout them … I used to be like a child in a sweet retailer. There have been so many nice gamers in that point.”

The Spurs, in fact, stay on the forefront, with France’s Victor Wembanyama, the primary decide in 2023, representing the way forward for the franchise and the league.

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AFTER A DEFLATING Recreation 6 loss to the Houston Rockets on the Chase Middle in San Francisco on Friday, Golden State Warriors ahead Draymond Inexperienced sat on the postgame dias, addressing the defeat and its playoff ramifications.

However for as essential because the Warriors’ recreation would possibly’ve been, it felt insignificant. That morning, the Spurs introduced Popovich was leaving his submit as coach.

Draymond Inexperienced obtained emotional speaking about Gregg Popovich tonight. pic.twitter.com/fALcQLqJV3

— Josh Paredes (@Josh810) Might 3, 2025

For Inexperienced, the information hit exhausting. He had been coached by Popovich throughout the Tokyo Olympics, and the 2 had developed a bond. And after the loss to Houston, Inexperienced was so desirous to pay his respects to the person that he reduce off a reporter’s query and commenced explaining what Popovich meant to him.

Like so many others, Inexperienced sought to demystify the exhausting exterior for which Popovich has usually been identified, and as an alternative reveal the humanity and generosity that lies beneath.

“He is probably the most unimaginable human beings,” Inexperienced started. “You recognize, you get this wall that everybody sees …

“You ask a dumb query, he will crush you,” he mentioned. “It simply seems as if he is this imply outdated man. And he’s the exact opposite. Like, exact opposite. The nicest individual you ever need to be round. He cares about folks a lot.”

He paused.

“I used to be fortunate sufficient and honored to have the chance to spend a summer time with him and play for him,” Inexperienced mentioned, his voice beginning to break.

Inexperienced revealed that he gave Popovich the sneakers he wore within the gold medal recreation in 2021 and mentioned Popovich wore them the subsequent time the Warriors confronted the Spurs. Each hug since then, Inexperienced mentioned, meant much more.

“It sucked taking part in towards the Spurs this 12 months, to look over and never see him there,” he mentioned. “And to know that I am going to by no means get that chance once more, I simply want I had one final time to go hug him on the sideline earlier than a recreation. … I do know I sound like he is lifeless — he isn’t.

“He is meant a lot to this league, and he means a lot to me.”

Inexperienced paused once more, gathering himself.

“Job effectively carried out.”