Veteran head coach Gregg Popovich will remain away from the Spurs after suffering a health issue prior to Saturday’s game vs Minnesota, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson will continue to serve as the acting head coach during Popovich’s absence.
The Spurs confirmed the news, issuing a statement to say that Popovich isn’t traveling with the team on its current road trip to Los Angeles and Houston (Twitter link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype).
San Antonio will face the Clippers on Monday and the Rockets on Wednesday before returning home to host the Trail Blazers on Thursday. It’s not yet known whether Popovich will be able to return to the sidelines at that time or Johnson will continue to coach the team beyond Wednesday.
A league source tells Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link) that Popovich is “OK” but “just needs rest.”
Popovich is the NBA’s all-time leader in head coaching wins, with a 1,391-824 regular season record (.628). He’s also the league’s oldest active head coach by a significant margin — he’ll turn 76 in January.
Johnson led the Spurs to a victory over the Timberwolves on Saturday as the team’s acting head coach and said after the game that he would stay prepared in the event Popovich wasn’t able to return right away, per Orsborn.
“Mitch did a great job, man,” Spurs point guard Chris Paul said following Saturday’s win, according to Charania. “I think our whole coaching staff (did). Things happen within this league all the time and just like with the players, it’s next man (up). So, shoutout to Mitch; he did a great job tonight.”
Prayers up for the GOAT!!!
The real “GOAT” is Jackson or Auerbach. Not some pretentious old man looking to jack his win numbers. They need a coach under 65.
You forget the rings he has? He did it with less, too. Jackson had three of the greats to ever play the game and Red had no competition.
Next you’ll tell us LeBron should retire and stop jacking his counting stats.
Tbf, I think he was ready to hang ‘em up before Wembanyama showed up.
Also, I have to agree that he won championships with less and developed multiple players who are or will become HoFers. Not to mention his players respect him… not sure if Phil had that same effect after Jordan?
letitbelowenstein is right sorry everyone
Hope he’s alright. The league is so much better when Pop has an open mic.
Prayers for Pop
The last two years have been clueless for the Spurs. It’s time for Pop to retire and let him keep his full contract
This team has gotten a F this off season and a F for last year too