Flanked by Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, Gregg Popovich stepped down as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, a position he had held for 29 seasons. The face of the Spurs dynasty that lasted from the early 2000s into the 2010s, Popovich was the longest-tenured coach in League history, surpassing Jerry Sloans tenure with the Utah Jazz by six seasons.
Now, the Hall of Famer transitions into a front office role as the President of Basketball Operations, a position he announced by revealing a shirt that said El Jefe on the front.
Although hell still be involved with the Spurs organization, Popovichs impact on the sidelines, the League and San Antonio hoops in particular is one that cannot be overlooked.
Before his 29 years with San Antonio, Popovich started with the Air Force Academy.
After playing high school basketball in Indiana, where he grew up, Popovich enrolled in the Air Force Academy, where he played for the basketball team. Popovich was a key contributor, leading the team in scoring during the 1970 season, averaging over 14 points a night.
While on active duty, he earned a roster spot on the U.S. Armed Forces all-star basketball team, and played consistently across Europe. He earned a tryout to the U.S. Olympic trials, which were attended by Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, who had just begun his coaching career in the ABA.
Popovich failed to make the team, and later began a coaching career with his alma mater as an assistant coach. After spending six seasons with the Air Force Academy, Popovich was hired by the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, a Division III joint-basketball program shared between Pomona College and Pitzer College in California. He rebuilt the struggling program into a powerhouse, leading the Sagehens to a conference title in the 1980s, their first in 68 years.
With his success at the Division III level, Popovich was hired by Brown, who was then coaching the Kansas Jayhawks. Brown would give Popovich the breakthrough he needed, as when he became the Spurs head coach in 1988, he again added the Hall of Famer to his staff.
Under Brown, Popovich first crossed paths with a superstar who he would eventually coach years laterDavid Robinson.
I loved Pop from the beginning because Pops a military guy, Robinson said in an interview on Joe Bucks podcast. Pop had a vision. He knew what he wanted to accomplish. He knew how he wanted to accomplish it, so guys started to buy into it. That really was the big turnaround, that was when things started falling into place.
After a two-year stint as an assistant with the Warriors, Popovich returned to San Antonio for the 1994 season.
He became the general manager of the Spurs, helping sign veteran point guard Avery Johnson from the Golden State Warriors, and trading away fan-favorite Dennis Rodman to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for center Will Perdue, both who would eventually be contributors to San Antonios first title in 1999.
After a 3-15 start, Popovich hired himself as head coach for the 1996-1997 season, in what proved to be a lost season for the Spurs.
Robinson suffered a season-ending foot injury after playing only six games, while the teams second-leading scorer Sean Elliott only played 39 games due to a knee injury. Chuck Person, another team veteran was out for the entire season with a back injury.
With a roster turning over with injuries, the Spurs ended the season with a 20-62 record, the worst record in franchise history. Popovich himself had coached the team to a 17-47 record.
However, it proved to be a blessing in disguise.
The Spurs won the 1997 Draft Lottery, earning the rights to draft Tim Duncan, the consensus top-overall pick out of Wake Forest.
From then on, the two would form a 19-year partnership. But more importantly, a standard for how Popovich would treat his players.
The standard you set. You showed up after I got drafted, you came to my island. You sat with my friends, my family. You talked with my dad. I thought that was normalits not. You are an exceptional person, thank you for teaching me about basketball, but even beyond that, teaching me that its not all about basketball, Duncan said in his Hall of Fame speech.
Duncans impact on the Spurs was immediate. Popovich coached San Antonio to a 56-26 record in his second season on the sidelines.
Under Pop, Duncan ran away with the Rookie of the Year award, averaging 21.1 points per game and nearly 12 boards a game. As a 21-year-old, he was named to the All-NBA First-Team and immediately became San Antonios best player.
With a youthful roster, the team fell short in the playoffs to the Utah Jazz, but bounced back.
In his third season, Popovich led the Spurs to their first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history. In the 1999 lockout season, the Spurs cruised through the postseason, only losing two games en route to a 4-1 Finals victory over the underdog New York Knicks.
In only three seasons, Popovich transformed the small market Spurs into a title-winning franchise, led by an emphasis on tough defense and slow-paced games that grinded opponents down. With Robinson and Duncan manning the paint, San Antonio boasted the third-best scoring defense in the League, and ranked top in defensive rating.
Strong defenses and an emphasis on a slower, high movement offense would be the standard for Pop-led teams moving forward.
That same season, Popovich drafted an unknown international talent out of Argentina in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft named Manu Ginobili.
Two years later, he drafted French point guard Tony Parker in the 2001 NBA Draft, setting the foundation for the San Antonios Big Three.
After remaining contenders for the next three seasons, the Spurs failed to get past the Shaq and Kobe Lakers, but finally broke through in the 2003 season.
Ginobili made his NBA debut after playing Italy for three seasons, and the Spurs formed their Big Three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.
Under the Big Three, the franchise won three more titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007. In 2003, the Spurs helped Robinson close out his career with a ring, defeating the New Jersey Nets in six games.
Pops team spread the ball, with four players averaging in double-digit points in those Finals, while having the rookie Ginobili provide a spark off the bench. In the closeout game, San Antonios defense suffocated the Nets, holding them to 77 points while Duncan nearly posted a quadruple-double, falling two blocks short on the stat sheet.
In 2005, the roster gained new role playerswho instantly found their place in Popovichs schemes. Players like Robert Horry, Brent Barry, Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed played tough defense while the Big Three continued to play selfless basketball. On Popovichs teams, everybody had a role, regardless of their standing in the rotation.
Especially Horry, who carried the offensive load in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals and hit the game-winning three to return to San Antonio up 3-2 in the series. San Antonio would close out the series against the defending champion Detroit Pistons, after clamping up Detroit for an 81-74 Game 7 victory, earning Popovich his third ring.
In 2007, the Spurs won their third championship of the 2000s, sweeping a young LeBron and an overmatched Cleveland Cavaliers team. That season, Ginobili voluntarily relinquished his starting role to come off the bench to help spark the teams offense.
Ginobilis selfless play represented Popovichs teamsselfless basketball, and players who put their egos and statistics aside for the better of the team.
From that standard, it wasnt a surprise that Popovich was the first coach to believe in Kawhi Leonard. After being drafted to the Pacers on draft night, the Spurs traded George Hill and the rights to two players for Leonard, who instantly made an impact in Texas.
Leonard became a star playing alongside the Big Three, helping lead the franchise to its most recent championship in 2014 over the Miami Heat. Popovich helped coach Leonard into a superstar, with the San Diego State product earning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2015 and 2016.
With a revolving door of contributing role players and the core of Parker, Duncan, Ginobili and Leonard, the Spurs were always racking up wins and contendingeven if it didnt turn into championships.
However, fans dont remember the defensive efforts or focus on the fundamentals, but rather Popovichs revolutionary offense. The Spurs taught the world how to pass, run a motion offense and emphasized ball movement. Star players would pass up difficult shots to give a teammate a better look. At their peak, fans called the teams style, The Beautiful Game.
Even now, Pops younger rosters still show flashes of the offense that made the San Antonio click.
With their selfless play and adaptable offense, San Antonio remained title contenders for nearly Popovichs entire tenure with the team. The Spurs made the playoffs for 22 consecutive seasons, leaving him with a 170-114 career postseason record.
Even as the Spurs have been rebuilding for the past few years, it feels as if history is repeating itself.
San Antonio won the 2023 Draft Lottery, earning the rights to draft another generational prospectVictor Wembanyana.
Similar to Duncan, Wembanyama instantly became the best player on the court. He won Rookie of the Year in a unanimous decision, and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Rudy Gobert.
Pop has helped coached Wembanyama into a lockdown defender, and offensive threat who can score from anywhere on the court. For the past two seasons, hes been coaching and teaching Wemby the right way to play the game.
A season later, he helped coached another Rookie of the Year winner in Stephon Castle.
With the talent, draft capital and trajectory San Antonio has been on, theres still a chance Popovich could get his sixth ring in a few seasons, and first outside of the sidelines.
But with all the hypotheticals aside, the accolades speak for themselves. 1,422 wins, the most ever. Three NBA Coach of the Year awards. A 62.1% winning percentage. Five rings. But most importantly, the care and mentorship he gave to his players, past and present.
Duncan summed up the sentiment in his Hall of Fame speech.
For everything, thank you for being the amazing human being that you are, he said.
