Gregg Popovich Signs New Five-Year Contract With San Antonio Spurs

With the San Antonio Spurs welcoming a splash of young talent this summer, it was expected head coach Gregg Popovich would stick around for one or two more seasons before riding off into the sunset.

As it turns out, he’ll have his handprints on the organization for the next half-decade.

The Spurs announced Saturday that Popovich has signed a new five-year contract to remain with the team.

Popovich, 74, just completed the final year of his contract in 2022-23, guiding the Spurs through the initial phase of a rebuild. Although he made it clear during his exit interview that he planned to keep coaching, there was no ink put to paper until the opening weekend of Summer League.

Per Spotrac’s salary tracker, this five-year deal will be worth $80 million total. It makes Popovich, once again, the NBA’s highest-paid coach. After Monty Williams signed a record-breaking contract with the Pistons for six years and $78.5 million, a major question swirling around the league was how the coaching market would look in the future.

Popovich has unequivocally earned this distinction.

He’s amassed 1,366 victories in his coaching career, winning nearly 65% of his games. In March 2022, he passed Don Nelson for the most coaching wins in NBA regular season history. As of now, he’s third in all-time playoff wins, trailing only Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. Popovich’s playoff record (170-114) is almost identical to Riley’s (171-111), with both having five championships as head coach.

Perhaps the most impressive yet under-discussed feat of his career is coaching at a 50-win pace for 20 straight seasons. From 1997 to 2017, San Antonio never dipped below 50 wins unless there was a lockout-shortened schedule. With the amount of player movement and instability in the modern NBA, it’s a safe bet that achievement will never be matched.

It should be noted that Popovich is more than just a coaching voice for the Spurs. He also serves as the franchise’s president of basketball operations, working in conjunction with general manager Brian Wright and CEO R.C. Buford to make roster decisions and transactions.

The Spurs’ announcement of this new contract didn’t specify it was for a coaching role, meaning this could still be a situation where Popovich doesn’t want to be on the sidelines for the next five years. In theory, he could a couple more seasons, step down from that role, and remain a prominent member of the Spurs’ front office for the rest of his contract. While those terms haven’t been released, per the team’s policy, that could be a logical outcome if he decides to step away from the day-to-day coaching experience and constant travel.

Popovich will be 79 years old during the final year of his new deal, with rookie Victor Victor Wembanyama likely entering the first season of a Designated Rookie Extension — if everything goes as planned for the 7’5” phenom.

Just like Popovich helped a young Tim Duncan navigate through the early stages of his career, he clearly wanted to be the same type of voice for Wembanyama. While the player should get the vast majority of credit for blossoming into a champion and generational talent — Duncan would have been legendary with or without the Spurs’ leaders — it’s meaningful for Wembanyama to have someone in his corner that knows the proper steps and values patience.

Shortly after Wembanyama was drafted No. 1 overall, Popovich mentioned in a press conference just how important it will be to temper expectations for his rookie year.

“It’s about not skipping steps, which I say often,” he expressed. “It’s A, to B, to C, and to D. On a variety of levels. One is the Xs and Os of the game, the rules are a little bit different than FIBA. He’ll have to get used to that. Because of the all the hype, he’ll have a target on his back. More than Xs and Os, to begin with, we’ll be interested in setting a framework in an environment where he’s comfortable. Where he can be Victor.”

Popovich also made it clear: This is a unique player and they will not fall into the comparisons to other rookie sensations. Through Pop’s leadership, the Spurs are determined to be there every step of the way for Wembanyama and every rookie that walks into their organization.

To Popovich, it’s not about forcing anything on him or the young guys. The “helicopter-like” approach, as he called it, is not a good way to start off any working relationship.

“He’s not LeBron or Tim [Duncan], or Kobe, or anybody else,” Popovich said. “He’s Victor. And that’s who we want him to be. So, we’ll do what we have done in the past with any player — we’ll observe. We’ll be there to counsel, to suggest, to answer questions, and be available as they matriculate into a team, into a city and home. Where they’re going to eat their meals, who’s going to make their meals, everyone facet of an existence — we’ll be very observant.”

With the influx of young talent in San Antonio, this will be a new challenge for Popovich and his coaching staff. Aside from Wemby, the city and organization are thrilled to see Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell continue their development as prolific scoring wings. Julian Champagnie, who only appeared in 15 games for the Spurs after they claimed him off waivers, is already impressing the team and showing off his supreme skills at the Las Vegas Summer League. Champagnie signed a fully guaranteed four-year, $12 million contract with San Antonio on July 6, giving them a quality 22-year-old forward that can guard multiple positions and fit directly into the Spurs’ culture of selfless creation.

This contract for Popovich has to signal that he’s optimistic about the team’s immediate future. Sure, they won’t be contenders or playoff threats right away, but someone in Pop’s shoes probably doesn’t want that type of pressure when the average age of the rotation will likely be the lowest in franchise history.

It will be fascinating to see how many national television games the Spurs are given when the NBA releases its schedule in August. This team might not be making noise in the West, but there’s no denying they will be among the most entertaining squads and near the top of any ‘League Pass rankings’ for excitement.