Gregg Popovich attends Spurs practice before Game 1 vs. Blazers

The San Antonio Spurs have their opponent set in the Portland Trail Blazers for the opening round of the NBA playoffs following the Blazers’ play-in win against the Phoenix Suns this past week. As the Spurs prepared for Game 1 against the Blazers, they had a familiar face stop by practice in former head coach Gregg Popovich.

Gregg Popovich officially stepped down from his position as Spurs head coach towards the end of last season after dealing with health related issues, but he’s dropped by practice every now and then. And with the Spurs about to face off against the Blazers in the playoffs, it seemed like they needed some advice from the championship coach.

During his time as head coach, Popovich led the Spurs to five NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007 and 2014. He first took over as coach during the 1996-97 season after being an assistant on the team from 1988-1992. In between those years he was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors from 1992-1994.

Mitch Johnson, who is a Popovich disciple, was initially named interim head coach, then moved into the position full-time. He first joined Popovich’s staff ahead of the 2019-20 season after coming up through the Spurs’ G League affiliate the Austin Spurs.

Through Popovich’s tenure as coach, the Spurs compiled an overall record of 1390-824. They made the playoffs in all but seven of his 29 years at the helm. Popovich coached several Hall of Famer players during his tenure including David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard.

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