SAN ANTONIO — Squeaking sneakers and bouncing balls echo through the busy gym in late June as Gregg Popovich surveys the scene.
Twenty-seven years have sped past, leaving 1,366 victories in the rearview along with five NBA titles, three NBA Coach of the Year awards and an Olympic gold medal.
Yet here, the winningest coach in NBA history stands quietly near center court, eyeing Victor Wembanyama’s first practice with the same deep investment that launched the Hall of Fame careers of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
“His ability to connect, spend time and bounce between the really detailed development of basketball players and the bigger picture of developing people is just so impressive,” said San Antonio Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt. “I think no matter what Pop does, he’s going to find a way to do that because that’s in his heart.”
He’ll likely pour out at least a small part of his heart this weekend in what’s sure to be an emotional speech at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Popovich enters with Parker and former Spurs assistant Becky Hammon. And Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and David Robinson will stand as presenters for the legendary coach.
Popovich resisted this day, initially, wanting those players to go before him. And Saturday night in Springfield, Mass., his entry into hoops immortality closes the chapter on one of the most dominant runs in professional sports, which included a record-tying 22 consecutive postseason appearances.
But the 74-year-old coach appears poised to start a new run, having signed a five-year contract a little more than two weeks after San Antonio drafted Wembanyama, considered by many to be a generational talent.
“These things are never about him,” Spurs CEO R.C. Buford told NBA.com.
This time, though, they are.
Popovich’s legacy extends beyond star players
One of five coaches to capture at least five championships, Popovich took over the helm in 1996 and ushered in a culture in San Antonio that still resonates today all over the NBA and beyond. Popovich surpassed his mentor, Don Nelson, in victories back in March of 2022, and currently ranks third in playoff wins (170), behind Phil Jackson (229) and Pat Riley (171).
Along the way, Popovich planted a coaching tree with branches that extend far and wide.
At least nine current head coaches hold ties to Popovich or to the Spurs’ organization, including five of the six head coaches (Michael Malone, Steve Kerr, Ime Udoka, Mike Budenholzer and Monty Williams) who led teams in the last three NBA Finals matchups.
“You see all these people,” Popovich marveled. “People who were in the film room at the bottom, then at the head of the film room, then they went somewhere else to be behind the bench, then went over there and became a head coach. That’s the real satisfaction and thrill of the years I’ve been coaching.”
Popovich met Malone in 2005 at an NBA Basketball without Borders program, and the two bonded almost immediately over wine and hoops. Popovich put in a call to former Spurs assistant Mike Brown (then the coach in Cleveland, now the coach of the Sacramento Kings) soon after to recommend Malone for a job, thus kickstarting the Denver coach’s career in the NBA. Kerr played two stints for Popovich and won a championship with the latter in his final year (2003) as a player.
Udoka, the Rockets’ new coach, also played for Popovich, eventually winning a title as a Spurs assistant (2014). Budenholzer, meanwhile, entered the league in 1994 as a video coordinator in San Antonio, and was a loyal assistant coach on Popovich’s bench for 17 seasons. Williams, the Pistons’ new coach, also played for Popovich (1996-’98) and worked as a Spurs intern during the team’s 2005 title run, before he rejoined the club in 2016 as vice president of basketball operations.
When the NBA released the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History as part of its celebration of the league’s 75th Anniversary season, four of them — Brown, Kerr, Nelson, and Doc Rivers — had worked with Popovich in the past in some capacity.
“There are so many people out there like me, whose lives have been impacted so dramatically and so positively by Pop,” Kerr said. “You can take all the accomplishments, the championships, the wins and everything else, and it’s all meaningful. But it doesn’t come close to the meaning of his relationships that he’s built around the league and what he’s meant to so many of us.
“So, he’s one of the most influential people ever in my life and I owe him so much. He’s a Hall of Famer and I’m thrilled for him. It’s a no-brainer. He was a Hall of Famer a long time ago.”
‘All-in’ on what’s best for Spurs
Adaptability made it possible, Kerr pointed out. Blessed with an embarrassment of riches in the frontcourt with twin towers Duncan and Robinson, the Spurs played an inside-out style of ball earlier in Popovich’s tenure that the coach gradually tweaked as the years passed.
Fast forward to 2014, and the Spurs are playing a completely different game, a “beautiful game” that leads to another championship, and in recent years becomes a style of play that’s seen around the league.
“So, he adapted to his personnel as he really understood what was happening around the league,” Kerr said. “The speed, the pace, the ball movement, I think he was ahead of the curve all the time constantly looking down to make improvements and stay ahead of the game. That’s been a hallmark for him.”
Another trait to emerge in recent years for Popovich is the coach’s patience and devotion to lifting the franchise’s interests above his own.
Four years ago, the organization targeted the 2023 NBA Draft as the ideal opportunity to add the building blocks for another long run of sustained success with Wembanyama potentially serving as the anchor. Looking to maximize a shot at bettering its Draft position to acquire the new Spur while providing room to grow for a young roster of inexperienced players, San Antonio understood it needed to peel away layers of the core, piece by piece. In the process, the Spurs would look to maximize the return from each move made.
That meant lots of losing for a fanbase accustomed to seeing the team in the playoffs. In 2019-20, Popovich and the Spurs missed the postseason for the first time in 23 seasons.
“Every day that he’s with us, we and the group of young players are the beneficiaries of his [devotion to the franchise],” Buford told NBA.com. “He’s always been focused on what’s best for the organization. Most any other coach would’ve said, ‘[Heck] no, I’m not gonna trade [Player X]. I don’t care what kind of Draft picks we get. That’s not helping me win today.’ But he’s been all-in on doing what’s right for the organization.”
That’s led to several tough decisions, such as jettisoning fan favorites like Dejounte Murray and Derrick White, two players currently thriving on other teams.
The Spurs drafted a 19-year-old Murray 29th in 2016 and developed the Seattle native into an All-Star despite some other clubs shying away from the point guard in the Draft due to his hardscrabble past. A native of East Chicago, Popovich found a way to bond with Murray over their shared experience of growing up in tough environments.
“He knows what I’ve been through,” Murray told NBA.com. “He got to see a lot. We just always talked. Just knowing what I’ve been through, he tried to keep me away from Seattle as much as [he could], not just because of any negative things [going on], but to keep me focused. We had heart to hearts.
“There were times I lost people over and over, and Pop was somebody I went to go cry to because I had no family living with me in San Antonio. A lot of people don’t understand the relationship we have. It has nothing to do with basketball. It’s just as men. That relationship we connected on and created is something that will last forever.”
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson feels similarly.
“It’s an honor to play for a coach like coach Pop,” he said. “I wish everybody could get to experience being around coach Pop because he changed my life, literally, from being a little kid to being a man. Not only on the court, but off the court as well. I’m just happy to be a part of his journey.”
Driven to lead … in any role
It continues in 2023 with Wembanyama. The coach’s ability to excel in the most difficult of circumstances should serve San Antonio well in this next chapter. Popovich displayed such qualities in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics in leading the U.S. team to its 16th gold medal. Team USA suffered losses in its first two exhibitions. When the Olympics tipped off, three players (Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Khris Middleton) were still competing in the NBA Finals.
Team USA lost its first game in Tokyo to France, snapping a 25-game winning streak at the Olympics. That came after Team USA finished seventh in 2019 under Popovich at the World Cup in China.
“When things are toughest is when he’s at his best as a leader,” Buford said. “He knows how to elevate not only himself, but those around him.”
Popovich described Team USA’s gold medal in Tokyo as “the best feeling I’ve ever had in basketball.”
More satisfaction likely awaits in the future with Wembanyama in the fold surrounded by a young, talented cast that includes Johnson, Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan.
But first, Popovich finally and begrudgingly, receives an overdue opportunity to celebrate his own greatness for once, surrounded by players that helped elevate him to Hall of Fame stature.
“Well, as you might guess, it’s pretty humbling,” he said. “It’s fun to go in with them, but still humbling in a sense it’s not something you think about while you’re growing up, while you’re in the business. When people would say Hall of Fame, to me, that always and still does mean Red Holzman, Red Auerbach, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson. To me, that’s Hall of Fame. Put my name in that crowd, and that’s the SAT answer like, ‘which one doesn’t fit?’ ”
But it does, coach, almost to a T.
Gregg Popovich.
That’s now Hall of Fame, too.
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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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