By Ramona Shelburne, Michael C. Wright | ESPN, 2025-03-18 20:09:00
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
从凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)位于德克萨斯州伯尔尼的牧场开车到霜冻银行中心，过去是可预测的：周末 30 分钟，工作日 45 分钟。但现在他必须提前出发，因为该地区似乎每条主要高速公路都在施工。
关于这座城市和圣安东尼奥马刺的一切，都让人觉得它在成长 —— 充满了新的活力和居民，他们来到这里是为了填补曾经定义德克萨斯州这片区域的所有广阔空间。
甚至在马刺队于 2023 年以状元签选中 维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)之前，这种活力就激励着教练 格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich)。 “最令人愉快的是，他们就像年轻、干净的石板。你从头开始教起，”他在 2022 年说道，此前他已经领导了一支由老将组成的球队多年。
约翰逊，25 岁，不知何故是马刺队效力时间最长的球员，他已经学会了追随波波维奇的领导。这就是为什么他们都在 2024 年 11 月 2 日下午早早地到达了球馆。
约翰逊在那里是为了在对阵明尼苏达森林狼队的比赛前进行额外的训练和治疗，而当时 75 岁的波波维奇在那里是为了进行赛前训练，这在他经历 NBA 赛季的磨砺时变得至关重要。
但据知情人士透露，在球队更衣室旁边的训练结束后不久，在球馆白色、银色和黑色走廊深处，波波维奇突然停下了脚步。在他举重时在场的球队工作人员知道有些不对劲，便抓住他。
他们立即让波波维奇坐下。
在附近，约翰逊听到教练开始接受治疗的骚动。
“我看不到他，”约翰逊告诉 ESPN。“但看到每个人都在谈论这件事，真是太可怕了。”
约翰逊试图靠近，但波波维奇已经在接受球队工作人员的照料，他们最终会把他从球馆带到附近的医院。只有少数球员、工作人员和球馆员工知道发生了什么事。
“没有人真的想说什么，”约翰逊说。“没有人想让我们进去，告诉我们真正发生了什么。未知的事情真的很艰难。”
大约下午 5 点 15 分，记者们聚集在采访室，等待波波维奇的赛前新闻发布会。虽然他通常很准时，但波波维奇迟到或错过其中一次发布会也不是什么不寻常的事。上赛季有一次，他在从球队新的训练设施 La Cantera 的 The Rock 前往球馆的路上遇到了交通堵塞。
其他时候，他会因为小型的医疗手术或个人原因而缺席比赛。通常会指定负责当晚对手球探报告的助理教练来代替。
因此，当马刺队长期发言人 汤姆·詹姆斯 (Tom James)在 5 点 30 分左右走进房间宣布波波维奇“身体不适”，并由助理教练 米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson)当晚带领球队时，并没有引起任何人的怀疑。
但在幕后，球队中已经开始传言，波波维奇——这块建立 NBA 最成功的球队之一的基石——所发生的事情是严重的，甚至可能危及生命。
医生们需要时间来确定波波维奇在被诊断为轻度中风后所遭受的损害程度。球员们几周都无法与他交谈。几个月后，他才有足够的力气走路，然后在球队面前站立并直接与他们交谈。
“这对我来说非常艰难，”约翰逊说。“自从我来到这里，他一直是我们的榜样。他一直是那个领导者。”
自从那晚以来，发生了太多的事情。马刺队进行了一笔重磅交易，引进了全 NBA 后卫 达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)。 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)已经成长为假定的年度最佳新秀。 文班亚马 看起来完全像是他被宣传为的划时代超级巨星，直到他因为手臂上的血栓而赛季报销。
但是波波维奇自从那天晚上之后就没有再执教过，并且本赛季也不会再执教。老将 哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes)说波波维奇的康复“提前完成了”。另一位消息人士说，经过五个月的康复，这位教练已经取得了许多中风患者九个月才能取得的进展。然而，仍然没有人知道他是否可以在下个赛季重返赛场。
对每个人来说，这都是一种奇怪的新现实。波波维奇和马刺队之间的联系如此牢固，如此根深蒂固，以至于它推动了这支骄傲球队的崛起。他们一起成长、进化、变老，然后重新开始。直到波波维奇在 11 月的那个下午突然停下了脚步，让每个人都来到了一个十字路口。长期讨论和推迟的继任计划突然变得紧迫起来，曾经由他做出的决定，也许不再由他决定了。
三十年来，第一次，一直处于这座城市和这支球队中心的人，站在了一个不同的立场 —— 努力回到他曾经的样子。
在圣安东尼奥的各个地方 都可以看到波波维奇的影响力。可以去阿拉莫高地的鸟类面包店逛逛，他在那里为他的 70 岁生日派对定制了饼干。或者去 Battalion，一家位于历史悠久的 7 号消防局大楼内的高级意大利餐厅，波波维奇是那里的投资者。或者去他在南城最喜欢的法国小酒馆之一：Bar Loretta。每位服务员或侍酒师都有一段故事，一段关于波波维奇来访的美好回忆。
约翰逊也有。波波维奇邀请约翰逊和当年的新秀们在 Bliss 餐厅享用一顿丰盛的晚餐，这是一家位于南城的餐厅，以美国菜肴为特色。“他当时说，‘你们都尝尝这些牡蛎，’”约翰逊说。“昆达里·韦瑟斯庞(Quinndary Weatherspoon)当时说，‘我从来没吃过牡蛎。’”
“你想打球吗？”波波维奇说。“你最好尝尝牡蛎。”
幸运的是，约翰逊尝过牡蛎，通过了波波维奇的第一次考验。在他为他效力的接下来的五年里，考验不断来临。
2021 年，他邀请约翰逊参加国家队训练营，告诉他，“我需要你做好准备，因为我正在冒险告诉所有人你已经准备好了。”约翰逊只是以为他被邀请参加青年队训练营。即使那样也很令人生畏。
但是波波维奇认为他有能力做得更多，当约翰逊有一个强大的训练营时，这位教练又冒了一次险，选择他参加了夏季奥运会的奥运代表队。
“他真的塑造了我作为一个年轻人的样子，”约翰逊说。“很多人认为波波非常严厉。不，不，不。他是我遇到过的最好的人之一。他对待每个人都很好，并且总是把别人放在自己之前。”
他的遗产是坚不可摧的，无可指责的，如果他在十年前，也就是圣安东尼奥在 2014 年赢得最后一次总冠军之后退休，他的遗产就已经如此了。马刺队赢得的五座总冠军奖杯——在波波维奇和高管 R.C. 布福德的领导下，他们史无前例地连续 22 年进入季后赛——都存放在 The Rock 内，现在 The Rock 是北美最大的大型木材（天然木材）体育设施。
该组织花费了 5 亿美元，于 2023 年秋季在 10 号高速公路以北 20 英里处（马刺路 1 号）开设了占地 45 英亩的社区场所。除了马刺队最先进的设施外，还有家庭公园、餐厅、社区步道、一个 40 英尺的 LED 屏幕，每周都会播放马刺队的比赛，以及“周日合唱”，以及服务于社区的医疗中心的计划。它是按照波波维奇的形象建造的——他重视什么，他关心什么。
然而，在这栋 134,000 平方英尺的建筑内，最突出的展示是波波维奇的执教格言《石匠的信条》：
当一切似乎都无济于事时，我会去看一位石匠，他也许会敲打他的石头一百次，而石头上却连一丝裂缝都没有出现。然而，在第一百零一次敲打时，它会一分为二，我知道这不是那一次敲打造成的，而是之前的所有敲打造成的。
这段来自丹麦活动家和改革家雅各布·里斯(Jacob Riis)的话语渗透到波波维奇和马刺队的方方面面，尽管波波维奇会让你相信他在建立它方面只扮演了一个很小的角色。但这就是马刺队的方式。
“我的任务是创造一个环境，以便我们能够取得一些成功，”他在 2023 年的名人堂仪式上说，他推迟了这次仪式，直到他执教的名人堂球员—— 大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson)， 蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan)， 马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili)和 托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker)——入选名人堂。
但事实是，波波维奇对篮球以及对马刺队的影响永远无法完全概括。
“波波是任何运动中最好的教练，”前杜克大学教练 迈克·沙舍夫斯基 (Mike Krzyzewzski)最近告诉 ESPN。
这两位执教界的巨头在职业生涯的后期走得更近了。
“当他被任命为国家队教练而我仍然是国家队教练时，我们才真正开始了解彼此，”沙舍夫斯基说。“我们变得非常亲密，我希望我的整个职业生涯都与他如此亲密。”
他说，他钦佩波波维奇如何领导他的球队，并试图利用他在执教之外的平台。他们因为他们的军事背景而走到了一起。沙舍夫斯基是一名陆军学员。波波维奇去了空军学院。
沙舍夫斯基有幸规划了自己的退休，并在 2022 年 75 岁时选择了他的继任者 [Jon Scheyer]。他已经准备好结束所有的旅行、招募和执教顶级大学球队的要求。他已经在杜克大学有了一个职位，家庭生活也已经安排好等着他。
波波维奇还没有做好准备。他对执教的热情仍然存在，尤其是对这支以 文班亚马 为首的年轻球队。就马刺队而言，情况本该如此。
一位接近情况的人士告诉 ESPN：“这是波波的决定，他当之无愧。”
在过去的十年里， 这一直是马刺队的继任计划。每年夏天，波波维奇都会花一些时间来消化这个赛季，看看他内心的火焰是否还在燃烧。布福德和他的团队会等待消息，相信波波维奇总是会足够诚实地对待自己，以做对球队最有利的事情。
多年来，有六位助理教练被认为是潜在的继任者。起初是 迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown)， 迈克·布登霍尔泽 (Mike Budenholzer)和 布雷特·布朗 (Brett Brown)，但他们最终在其他地方获得了主教练职位。然后是 伊梅·乌度卡 (Ime Udoka)， 贝基·哈蒙 (Becky Hammon)， 威尔·哈迪 (Will Hardy)， 詹姆斯·博雷戈 (James Borrego)， 蒙蒂·威廉姆斯 (Monty Williams)和 泰勒·詹金斯 (Taylor Jenkins)。波波维奇也比他们都活得长。
去年，联盟中有传言称，金州勇士队教练 史蒂夫·科尔 (Steve Kerr)，他曾为波波维奇效力了四个赛季，如果他未能与勇士队达成续约协议，他可能会被定位为继任者。但是科尔与金州勇士队续签了两个赛季的合同——这项协议将在下个赛季结束后到期——并且人们期望只要 斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry)还在海湾区投中三分球，他就会在那里执教。
因此，是约翰逊在 11 月被任命为临时主教练。与被提及为可能的继任者的人相比，约翰逊的履历很浅。他曾在斯坦福大学打球，通过马刺队的体系一路走来，并在去年夏天在多伦多面试主教练职位后，在教练界赢得了良好的声誉。
密尔沃基雄鹿队中锋 布鲁克·洛佩兹 (Brook Lopez)是约翰逊在斯坦福大学的前队友，他告诉 ESPN：“看到他现在所处的位置并不令人惊讶。他属于那里。”
“如此聪明的篮球运动员，我遇到过的篮球智商最高的人，”洛佩兹说。“他以不同的方式看待比赛。我们实际上称他为“大师”，因为他指挥和运作的方式。”
尽管如此，在 1988 年以实习生身份加入球队后，已经担任马刺队首席通讯官 30 年的詹姆斯知道，在球队 11 月 4 日对阵洛杉矶快船队的比赛之前，洛杉矶的大多数媒体都不熟悉他。
“对于那些不是来自圣安东尼奥的人来说，我们今晚的教练是米奇·约翰逊，”詹姆斯在房间前说，几分钟后，约翰逊走上了讲台。
房间里的气氛很凝重。波波维奇的情况的全部范围仍在逐渐明朗。
消息人士称，当天早些时候，官员们向球队透露，波波维奇中风了。他仍在医院里，没有人能说出这次中风的破坏性有多大。
对于球队来说，这是一个不可能接受的消息。他们花了过去的两天时间不知道发生了什么事，才得知情况有多么严重。他们中的一些人只知道他们的领导者被救护车从球馆的安全地带带到了未知的地方。
在 Intuit Dome 开球前，经验丰富的控球后卫 克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul)被要求代表球员发言，他这样做了，就在离更衣室几步之遥的地方。
“我们知道他会观看比赛，”保罗在比赛前说。“他会告诉我们他看到了什么。我们球队的所有人、工作人员，每个人都非常想念他，因为他是波波。当他在房间里时，有一种能让每个人平静下来的感觉。”
米奇·约翰逊在赛前对波波维奇发表了他自己的衷心声明，然后与 文班亚马 和球队一起进行了赛前热身。“我只想首先说波波对我们球队的影响……很难用言语表达，如果我尝试了，也不会恰如其分，”他说。“他对我个人来说非常棒，现在他的健康是第一要务。……我昨晚和他谈过了。他的精神很好。他很好，我们迫不及待地想让他回来。”
马刺队出来后几乎投中了对阵快船队的每一个球，在第一节结束时建立了 26 分的领先优势。但是最终，情绪上的损失赶上了他们。
他们以 113-104 输掉了比赛。
对于一个 像德克萨斯州南部天气变化一样迅速变化的城市来说，马刺队以明显较慢的速度前进。行动、更新和变化都发生在幕后，球队以尽可能减少噪音的方式宣布或承认它们。
在过去的九年里，球队悄悄地更换了领导层，从 2016 年退休的长期老板 彼得·霍尔特 (Peter Holt)，到他的前妻 朱丽安娜·霍恩·霍尔特 (Julianna Hawn Holt)，现在到他们的孩子 彼得·约翰·霍尔特 (Peter John Holt)和 科里纳·霍尔特·里希特 (Corrina Holt Richter)，他们代表家族在球队的经理委员会中任职。俱乐部还增加了少数股东和战略合作伙伴，例如戴尔科技公司首席执行官 迈克尔·戴尔 (Michael Dell)，爱彼迎联合创始人兼董事长 乔·格比亚 (Joe Gebbia)，以及麦库姆斯家族，该家族在 30 年后于 2023 年回归，购买了该组织的一部分股份，该组织的族长帮助建立并曾经拥有该组织。
对于一支球队来说，这些都是巨大的变化。如果它们发生在纽约、洛杉矶甚至达拉斯，那将成为国际新闻。但是对于马刺队来说，当地媒体只报道了几篇故事，一切都像过去三十年一样继续进行。
这是因为波波维奇和布福德，他们 39 年前在 拉里·布朗 (Larry Brown)在堪萨斯大学的教练组相遇，并且从那以后就形影不离。布福德是马刺队的首席执行官，而波波维奇是马刺队的主席兼主教练。 布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright)自 2019 年以来一直担任球队的总经理。
该组织在对情况有明确了解时才会采取行动，而不是在有猜测时。
自 11 月 2 日以来，马刺队已经发布了四次关于波波维奇的最新消息。首先是说他不会随队前往洛杉矶。然后，在 11 月 13 日的 11 天后，表示他患了轻度中风，预计会完全康复。
然后，在 12 月 16 日的一个月后，波波维奇发表了一份声明，感谢大家对他所受到的支持，并开玩笑说“没有人比那些一直在领导我的康复过程的有才华的人更兴奋地看到我回到教练席上。他们很快就了解到我不太容易被指导。”
最后在 2 月 27 日，波波维奇宣布他本赛季不会重返赛场，但希望他将来可以重返执教。
在这些声明之间，他的康复取得了进展。消息人士告诉 ESPN，在医院住了几周后，波波维奇出院了，几个月后，他又能开始走路了。
“这是波波的决定，他当之无愧。”
知情人士
多名球员和球队官员表示，在他的康复过程中，他一直与教练组、管理层和几名球员保持联系。凯尔登·约翰逊说，他可以从他收到的来自波波维奇的短信和电话中看出，他一直在密切关注球队整个赛季的表现。
“他会告诉我他为我感到骄傲，他爱我，”约翰逊说。“在一个漫长的赛季中，这些对话真的推动我度过第二天。”
到 1 月下旬，波波维奇已经康复到可以亲自向球队讲话。但是由于一年一度的牛仔竞技之路于 2 月 3 日在孟菲斯开始，因此很难找到一个日期。最初，消息人士称马刺队计划在全明星赛后第一天让波波维奇向球队发表讲话。但是当 文班亚马 在全明星赛后在怀俄明州旅行时肩膀感到疼痛时，这个计划落空了。
两天后，球队宣布 文班亚马 将在右臂发现血栓后缺席本赛季余下的比赛。
在 2 月 27 日，在休斯顿的比赛和孟菲斯的比赛之间的休息日，马刺队能够找到时间让波波维奇与他的球队讲话。波波维奇缺席、 文班亚马 令人震惊的消息以及漫长的客场之旅——他们一个月内只回家了两次——的集体重压造成了损失。马刺队已经连输四场，退出了季后赛的行列。
在 The Rock 的训练场上，波波维奇站在他的球队面前发表了一条消息：他本赛季不会回来，他告诉他们。但他一直在密切关注他们，并且仍然有能力让他们为自己的表现负责。
“当他走进来时，每个人都闭嘴了，”约翰逊说。“波波一直都是这样。显然，他仍在康复中。但他仍然在骂人。“你们需要防守。你们需要抢篮板。”知道这一点，该死，他真的在观看比赛，因为他正在点名具体的情况，这太棒了。
“这是我们需要的。我觉得他带来了那种活力，那种火花。那个我们都认识和喜爱的波波。他走进那次会议，那就是他。就像他没有错过任何节拍一样。”
他说话比以前慢了一点，更谨慎了。波波维奇穿着一身黑色的运动服，谈到了未来，他希望未来包括在教练席上占有一席之地。但他也告诫说，重申了一个标准，这个标准已经定义了他在掌舵的三十年。
如果我不能 100% 做我自己，我就对不起大家。
他的话语得到了沉默和点头的回应。
“这比篮球重要得多，”福克斯说。“这是关于他的生活。”
这条消息引起了轰动。
“这是一个灵感，”福克斯说。“经历了他正在经历的事情，以及他试图反击只是为了在那里。这证明了他作为一个人是谁，你可以看出他真的很想回到那里。
福克斯在 2 月 2 日的交易中加入球队后，只与波波维奇通过电话交谈过。这是自从他来到圣安东尼奥后第一次见到波波维奇。
“事情会从严肃到笑，再回到严肃和笑，”福克斯告诉 ESPN。“但他知道如何让人们参与进来，我认为这就是他能够长期做到这一点的原因。显然，我们希望他尽可能健康。但我很乐意接受波波的执教，当然。”
自从波波维奇 1988 年首次来到圣安东尼奥以来，圣安东尼奥已经发生了很大的变化，但有些事情永远不会改变。
人们可能会在职业生涯的某个时刻离开马刺队，但他们经常会回到圣安东尼奥居住。这个地方，就像这个组织一样，是一个永远的家。一旦你成为马刺队家庭的一员，总会有你的位置。
蒙蒂·威廉姆斯在 2016 年他的第一任妻子英格丽德在一场车祸中丧生后回来了。在 2023 年在菲尼克斯和 2024 年在底特律被解雇后，他又回来了。他现在正在 TMI Episcopal High School 执教他的儿子伊利亚和弥迦，以及蒂姆·邓肯的儿子德雷文。
邓肯在 2016 年结束了他的球员生涯后从未离开过。吉诺比利也没有，他曾在马刺队找到了一份工作，并且经常带着他 14 岁的双胞胎儿子参加主场比赛。帕克离开又回来过几次，最近他一直在球队周围，因为他正在规划他在篮球领域的未来。
迈克·布朗在两份工作之间回来了。丹尼·费里和克里斯·格兰特也是如此。
这也是马刺队的方式的一部分。波波维奇创造了这种文化，并且它已经延续了下来。现在的问题是，当他不再是它的管理者时，它将如何演变。
这是一个十年来一直笼罩着球队的问题，但尽管今年发生了一切，它仍然显得不真实。对于几乎所有参与其中的人来说，包括也许是他自己，都无法想象任何其他的选择。
但事实是，很多事情已经改变了。多年来，波波维奇已经将越来越多的执教职责交给了他的助手。他授权他们多次代替他执教。
几年前，他甚至从他在 Dominion 的长期住所搬到了南城的一间顶层公寓。那栋他非常喜欢的，带有定制酒窖的完美四居室房屋？他在 2020 年的疫情期间把它卖掉了。
他的孩子们已经长大。他的妻子艾琳在长期患病后于 2018 年去世。一切都在变化，所以他也变了。
在他的名人堂演讲中，这位出了名的注重隐私的人承认了他所经历过的一些事情，以及他仍然对生活充满期待。
他感谢他的孩子们，米奇和吉尔，照顾他。当他向他的孙子孙女布里奇特和芬恩打招呼时，他滔滔不绝地赞美他们，称他们为“节目的明星”。
“我的妻子艾琳是我们的磐石，”他说。“我的女儿吉尔接过了这个重担，并让我们走在正轨上。”
这就是他今年一直在为之奋斗的目标：回到他为他的家人、他的球队和他的城市所建立的生活——然后按照他自己的条件，决定如何以及何时是离开的时候。
ESPN 的蒂姆·麦克马洪(Tim MacMahon)为本报道做出了贡献。
点击查看原文：'It's Pop's decision. He's earned that' - Inside Gregg Popovich's fight to return to the San Antonio Spurs
‘It’s Pop’s decision. He’s earned that’ - Inside Gregg Popovich’s fight to return to the San Antonio Spurs
THE DRIVE FROM Keldon Johnson’s ranch in Boerne, Texas, to the Frost Bank Center used to be predictable. Thirty minutes on the weekends, 45 during the week. But these days he has to leave early to account for the construction on seemingly every major highway in the area.
Everything about the city and the San Antonio Spurs feels like it’s growing – bursting with new energy and residents who’ve come here to fill in all the wide-open space that used to define this part of Texas.
Even before the Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama, No. 1 overall in 2023, that energy was inspiring to coach Gregg Popovich. “What’s most enjoyable is they are like young, clean slates. You start at the bottom and teach,” he said in 2022, after years of leading a veteran-laden team.
Johnson, who at 25 is somehow the Spurs’ longest-tenured player, has learned to follow Popovich’s lead. Which is why they both arrived at the arena so early on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2024.
Johnson was there to get extra work and treatment before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Popovich, then at age 75, was there to go through the pregame workout routine that had become essential as he made his way through the grind of an NBA season.
But shortly after stepping away from his workout next to the team’s locker room, deep inside the warren of white, silver and black hallways at the arena, Popovich stopped in his tracks. Team staffers who were around while he was lifting weights knew something was off and grabbed him, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
They immediately sat Popovich down.
Nearby, Johnson heard the commotion as the coach began receiving medical attention.
“I couldn’t see him,” Johnson told ESPN. “But to see how everybody was talking about it was scary.”
Johnson tried to get closer, but Popovich was already being attended to by team staffers who would eventually lead him to an ambulance out of the arena to a nearby hospital. Only a few players, staffers and arena employees had any sense of what had happened.
“Nobody really wanted to say anything,” Johnson said. “Nobody wanted to let us in and tell us what was really going on. The unknown was really tough.”
At around 5:15 p.m., reporters gathered in the interview room for Popovich’s pregame news conference. Although he is normally punctual, it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary for Popovich to be late or miss one of these availabilities. One time last season, he got caught in traffic on his way from the team’s new practice facility, The Rock at La Cantera.
Other times, he has missed games for minor medical procedures or personal reasons. The assistant coach who had run the scouting on the night’s opponent was usually appointed to fill in.
So it didn’t raise any eyebrows when Spurs longtime spokesman Tom James came into the room around 5:30 to announce that Popovich was “under the weather” and assistant coach Mitch Johnson would lead the team that night.
Behind the scenes, though, word had begun to spread among the team that what had happened to Popovich – the rock upon which one of the NBA’s most successful franchises has been built – was serious and perhaps life-threatening.
It would take time for doctors to determine the extent of the damage Popovich suffered after what was deemed a mild stroke. Players weren’t able to talk to him for weeks. It was several months before he was strong enough to walk and then stand in front of the team and speak directly to them.
“It’s been pretty tough for me,” Johnson said. “He’s been our role model since I got here. He’s been that leader.”
So much has happened in the five months since. The Spurs made a blockbuster trade to land All-NBA guard De’Aaron Fox. Stephon Castle has blossomed into the presumptive Rookie of the Year. Wembanyama looked every bit like the generational superstar he was billed to be before he was lost for the season with a blood clot in his arm.
But Popovich hasn’t coached since that night and won’t coach again this season. Veteran Harrison Barnes said Popovich is “ahead of schedule” in his recovery. Another source said the coach has advanced in five months of rehab to the point where many who suffer strokes progress over nine months. Still, no one knows yet whether he can return to the sidelines next season, either.
It is a strange new reality for everyone. The bond between Popovich and the Spurs has been so solid, so ingrained in everything, that it fueled the rise of this proud franchise. They grew together, evolved, aged and then started anew. Until Popovich stopped in his tracks that afternoon in November, leaving everyone at a crossroads. The long-discussed and delayed succession plan was suddenly urgent, and decisions that were once his to make, perhaps were no longer.
For the first time in three decades, the man who has been at the center of this city and this franchise has been on a different sideline – fighting to get back to what he once was.
THERE ARE REMINDERS of Popovich’s influence all over San Antonio. Stop by the Bird Bakery in Alamo Heights where he had cookies custom-made for his 70th birthday party. Or Battalion, a fine dining Italian spot in the historic Firehouse 7 building where Popovich is an investor. Or one of his favorite French bistros over in Southtown: Bar Loretta. Every waiter or sommelier has a story, a fond memory of when Popovich came by.
Johnson does, too. Popovich invited Johnson and that year’s rookie class to a fancy dinner at Bliss, a restaurant in Southtown featuring American fare. “He was like, ‘Y’all try these oysters,’” Johnson said. “And Quinndary [Weatherspoon] was like, ‘I ain’t never had oysters.’”
“You want to play?” Popovich said. “You better try the oysters.”
Fortunately for Johnson, he had tried oysters, passing Popovich’s first test. Over the next five years that he played for him, the tests kept coming.
In 2021, he invited Johnson to the national team camp, telling him, “I need you to be ready because I’m going out on a limb telling everybody you’re ready.” Johnson just assumed he was being invited to the junior team camp. Even that was daunting.
But Popovich thought he was capable of more, and when Johnson had a strong camp, the coach went out on another limb, choosing him for the Olympic team that competed in the Summer Olympics.
“He’s really shaped who I am as a young man,” Johnson said. “A lot of people think Pop is so stern. No, no, no. He’s one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around. He treats everybody really well and puts everyone before himself.”
His legacy is ironclad, unimpeachable, and was already so if he’d retired a decade ago, after San Antonio won its last championship in 2014. The five championship trophies the Spurs won – during their unprecedented 22-year run of making the playoffs under Popovich and executive R.C. Buford – are housed inside The Rock, now the largest mass timber (natural wood) sports facility in North America.
Located 20 miles up Highway 10, at 1 Spurs Way, the organization spent $500 million to open the 45-acre community venue in the fall of 2023. In addition to state-of-the-art facilities for the Spurs, there are parks for families, restaurants, community trails, a 40-foot LED screen that plays everything from Spurs games throughout the week to “sing-along Sundays,” as well as plans for a medical center that will serve the community. It was made in Popovich’s image – what he values and what he cares about.
The most prominent display inside the 134,000-square-foot building, however, is Popovich’s coaching mantra, The Stonecutter’s Credo:
When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
The quote from Jacob Riis, a Danish activist and reformer, seeps into every aspect of Popovich and the Spurs, although Popovich would have you believe he has played just a small role in establishing it. But it’s the Spurs Way.
“I was tasked with the job to create an environment so we could have some success,” he said at his Hall of Fame ceremony in 2023, a ceremony he delayed until the Hall of Fame players he coached – David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker – had been inducted.
But the truth is Popovich’s impact on basketball, and on the Spurs, can never be fully encapsulated.
“Pop is as good a coach as there has ever been in any sport,” former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewzski, recently told ESPN.
The two coaching lions have grown closer later in their professional lives.
“We really got to know each other when he was named the national coach and I was still the national coach,” Krzyzewski says. “We became real close and I wished I was that close with him my entire career.”
He admired how Popovich had led his teams and tried to use his platform outside of coaching, he said. They’d bonded over their military pasts. Krzyzewski was an Army cadet. Popovich went to the Air Force Academy.
Krzyzewski had the luxury of planning his retirement and choosing his successor [Jon Scheyer] when he retired in 2022 at age 75. He was ready to be done with all the travel and recruiting and demands of coaching a top college program. And he had a role with Duke and family life all set up and waiting for him.
Popovich wasn’t there yet. His passion for coaching remains, especially for this young team with Wembanyama as its leader. And as far as the Spurs were concerned, that was how it should be.
“It’s Pop’s decision,” one person close to the situation told ESPN. “He’s earned that.”
THAT HAS BEEN the Spurs’ succession plan for the better part of a decade. Each summer, Popovich would take some time to digest the season and see if the fire still burned inside of him. Buford and Co. would wait for word, trusting that Popovich would always be honest enough with himself to do what was best for the organization.
Over the years, a half dozen assistant coaches were talked about as potential successors. First it was Mike Brown, Mike Budenholzer and Brett Brown, but they eventually got head coaching positions elsewhere. Then came Ime Udoka, Becky Hammon, Will Hardy, James Borrego, Monty Williams and Taylor Jenkins. Popovich outlasted them all, too.
Last year there was talk around the league that Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played for Popovich for four seasons, could be positioned as a successor if he didn’t come to an agreement on an extension with the Warriors. But Kerr re-signed with Golden State for two more seasons – a deal that ends after next season – and the expectation is that he’ll coach there as long as Stephen Curry is hitting 3-pointers by the Bay.
So it was Johnson who was named interim head coach in November. Compared to others who have been mentioned as possible successors, Johnson’s resume was light. He’d played at Stanford, came up through the Spurs system and had earned a strong reputation in coaching circles after interviewing for a head coaching job last summer in Toronto.
“Seeing him in the position he’s in now is not a shock. He belongs there,” Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez, a former teammate of Johnson’s at Stanford, told ESPN.
“Such an intelligent basketball player, the highest basketball IQ I’ve ever played with or been around,” Lopez said. “He sees the game differently. We actually called him “maestro” because of the way he conducts and runs the show.”
Still, James, who has been the Spurs top communications official for 30 years after first joining the organization in 1988 as an intern, knew most of the media in Los Angeles weren’t familiar with him before the team’s game against the LA Clippers on November 4.
“For those of you not from San Antonio, our coach tonight is Mitch Johnson,” James said in front of the room, a few minutes before Johnson stepped to the podium.
The feeling in the room was somber. The full extent of Popovich’s situation was still coming into focus.
Earlier that day, officials revealed to the team that Popovich had suffered a stroke, sources said. He was still in the hospital, and no one could say yet how damaging the stroke had been.
It was an impossible update for the team to swallow. They’d spent the past two days not knowing what had happened, only to learn just how serious it was. All some of them knew was that their leader had been whisked away in an ambulance, from the safety of the arena to the unknown.
Prior to tipoff at Intuit Dome, veteran point guard Chris Paul was asked to speak for the players, and he did so, just a few steps away from the locker room.
“We know he’s going to be watching,” Paul said before the game. “He’s going to let us know what he sees. All the guys with our team, staff, everyone definitely misses him because he’s Pop. There’s a feeling when he’s in the room that just calms everybody.”
Mitch Johnson delivered his own heartfelt statement about Popovich before the game, before going through his pregame warm-up with Wembanyama and the team. “I just want to start off by saying that Pop’s impact on our organization … it’s hard to articulate or put into words, and if I tried it would not do it justice,” he said. “He’s been tremendous for me personally, and right now his health is the No. 1 priority. … I talked to him last night. He’s in good spirits. He’s OK, and we can’t wait to have him back.”
The Spurs came out making nearly every shot against the Clippers, building a 26-point lead by the end of the first quarter. But eventually the emotional toll caught up to them.
They lost, 113-104.
FOR A CITY that’s changing as rapidly as the weather shifts in south Texas, the Spurs move at a decidedly slower pace. Moves, updates and changes happen behind closed doors, and the franchise announces or acknowledges them in a way that creates as little noise as possible.
In the past nine years, the team quietly changed leadership, from longtime owner Peter Holt, who retired in 2016, to his ex-wife, Julianna Hawn Holt, and now to their children, Peter John Holt and Corrina Holt Richter, who represent the family on the franchise’s board of managers. The club has also added minority owners and strategic partners such as Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, Joe Gebbia, co-founder and chairman of Airbnb, and the McCombs family, which returned after 30 years in 2023 to purchase a share in the organization that the family’s patriarch helped establish and once owned.
These are giant changes for a franchise. Had they happened in New York or Los Angeles or even Dallas, it would’ve been international news. But with the Spurs, there were a few stories in the local media and everything kept on going the way it has for the past three decades.
That’s because of Popovich and Buford, who met on Larry Brown’s staff at Kansas 39 years ago and have been inseparable ever since. Buford is the Spurs’ CEO while Popovich is the Spurs’ president and head coach. Brian Wright has been the team’s general manager since 2019.
The organization moves when it has clarity on a situation, not when there is speculation.
The Spurs have offered four updates on Popovich since Nov. 2. First to say that he would not travel with the team to Los Angeles. Then, 11 days later on Nov. 13, to say he’d suffered a mild stroke and was expected to make a complete recovery.
Then, a month later on December 16, Popovich released a statement thanking everyone for the outpouring of support he’d received, joking that “no one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process. They’ve quickly learned that I’m less than coachable.”
Finally on February 27, Popovich announced that he would not return to the sidelines this season but hoped that he could return to coaching in the future.
In between those statements, his recovery progressed. After a few weeks in the hospital, Popovich was released, and a few months after that, he was able to start walking again, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.
“It’s Pop’s decision. He’s earned that.”
Source with knowledge of the Spurs
He was in communication with the coaching staff, front office and several players throughout his rehabilitation, multiple players and team officials said. Keldon Johnson said he could tell from the text messages and calls he received from Popovich that he’d been paying close attention to the team throughout the season.
“He’ll tell me that he’s proud of me, that he loved me,” Johnson said. “In a long season, conversations that really push me through to that next day.”
By late January, Popovich was well enough to address the team in person. But with the annual Rodeo road trip starting February 3 in Memphis, it was difficult to find a date. Initially, sources said the Spurs planned for Popovich to address the team the first day back after the All-Star break. But that plan fell through when Wembanyama experienced pain in his shoulder while traveling in Wyoming after the All-Star Game.
Two days later, the team announced that Wembanyama would miss the remainder of the season after a blood clot was discovered in his right arm.
On Feb. 27, an off day between a game in Houston and a game in Memphis, the Spurs were able to find time for Popovich to speak to his team. The collective weight of Popovich’s absence, Wembanyama’s devastating news and the long road trip – they’d been home only twice in a month – had taken a toll. The Spurs had lost four in a row to drop out of the playoff picture.
On the practice court at The Rock, Popovich stood in front of his team to deliver a message: He wasn’t coming back this season, he told them. But he had been watching them closely and was still in position to hold them accountable for their play.
“Everybody shut the f— up when he walked in,” Johnson said. "That’s just how it’s always been with Pop. Obviously, he’s still recovering. But he was still cussing. ‘Y’all need to play defense. Y’all need to rebound.’ Knowing that, s—, he really is watching the games because he’s calling out specific situations, was huge.
“It was what we needed. I feel like he brought that life, that spark. That Pop that we all knew and loved. He came into that meeting and that’s who he was. It was like he didn’t skip a beat.”
He spoke a little more slowly than before, more measured. Wearing an all-black sweatsuit, Popovich talked about the future, one he hopes includes a spot at the head of the bench. But also he cautioned, reiterating a standard that has come to define his three decades at the helm.
If I can’t be 100% myself, I’m doing everybody a disservice.
His words were met with silence and nods.
“It’s much bigger than basketball,” Fox said. “This is about his life.”
The message hit.
“It’s an inspiration,” Fox said. "Going through the things that he’s going through, and him trying to fight back just to be out there. It is a testament to who he is as a person and you can tell that he really wants to be back out there.
Fox, who will miss the rest of the season with a tendon injury in his pinkie, had only talked to Popovich on the phone since joining the team in a trade on February 2. This was the first time he’d seen Popovich since coming to San Antonio.
“It would go from serious to laughing back to serious and laughing,” Fox told ESPN. “But he knows how to keep people engaged, and I think that’s why he’s been able to do what he does for so long. Obviously, we want him to be as healthy as possible. But I would love to be coached by Pop, for sure.”
FOR AS MUCH that has changed in San Antonio since Popovich first arrived in 1988, there are some things that never do.
People might leave the Spurs at one point in their careers, but they often come back to live in San Antonio. This place, like the organization, is a forever home. Once you are part of the Spurs family, there is always a place for you.
Monty Williams came back after his first wife, Ingrid, was killed in a car accident in 2016. He came back again after being fired in Phoenix in 2023 and Detroit in 2024. He’s coaching his sons, Elijah and Micah, along with Tim Duncan’s son, Draven, at TMI Episcopal High School now.
Duncan never left after his playing career ended in 2016. Neither did Ginobili, who took a job with the Spurs and often brings his 14-year-old twin boys to home games. Parker has left and come back several times, having recently been around the team as he plans out his future in basketball.
Mike Brown came back in between jobs. So did Danny Ferry and Chris Grant.
This is also part of the Spurs Way. Popovich created this culture, and it has endured. The question, now, is how it evolves when he is no longer its steward.
It’s a question that has hung over the franchise for a decade but still doesn’t seem real, despite everything that’s happened this year. To nearly everyone involved, including perhaps the man himself, it’s impossible to imagine any alternative.
But the truth is, much has already changed. Popovich has handed more and more of the coaching duties to his assistants over the years. He empowered them to coach in his stead multiple times.
He even moved from his longtime home in Dominion to a penthouse in Southtown a few years back. That perfect four-bedroom house with the customized wine cellar he loved so much? He sold it during the pandemic in 2020.
His children are grown. His wife, Erin, passed away in 2018 after a long illness. Everything was changing, and so he did, too.
During his Hall of Fame speech, the famously private man acknowledged some of what he’d been through and how much he was still looking forward to in his life.
He thanked his children, Mickey and Jill, for looking after him. He gushed as he called out to “the stars of the show,” his grandchildren Bridget and Finn.
“My wife Erin was our rock,” he said. “My daughter Jill has taken over the mantle and keeps us on the straight and narrow.”
This is what he’s been fighting for this year: to get back to the life he built for his family, his team and his city – and then decide, on his own terms, how and when it is time to leave.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.
By Ramona Shelburne, Michael C. Wright | ESPN, via ESPN