Gregg Popovich Signs a 5-year $80 Million Deal With San Antonio

Gregg Popovich signed a new deal with the San Antonio Spurs, five years long and $80 million worth. This is a clear sign that the Spurs and Popovich plan on attacking the NBA top together at least once more, as this deal came when the franchise from Texas picked Victor Wembanyama as the first overall pick at this year’s NBA Draft.

Pop will become the highest-paid NBA head coach, eclipsing Monty William’s six-year deal with the Detroit Pistons worth $78.5 million. The Spurs are in a position where they have a young team that needs to be sharpened and improved. Instead of breaking ties with Pop and bringing in a younger replacement, thus starting a new era in their history, they decided that the 74-year-old is the best solution for the future.

Gregg Popovich signed a new five-year deal worth more than $80 million with the San Antonio Spurs, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

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We need to say that Popovich serves as the Spurs’ president of basketball operations, meaning that he oversees everything connected to the franchise sports sector. Some suggest he might start the entire process before picking his replacement and then move to the front office like Pat Riley did with the Miami Heat.

At the moment, Popovich has 1,366 wins and 761 losses and holds the record for most victories by one head coach in the NBA. He has been leading the Spurs since 1996, when he became an interim coach. The very next year, the Spurs took Tim Duncan as the top pick in the NBA draft, and the rest is history.

The team from the Alamo Dome at the time became one of the most successful franchises in the league, winning five titles, and establishing a domination in the early 2000s. Since 1997, the Spurs didn’t miss the playoffs for 22 years in a row, reaching six NBA Finals and losing only one, in 2013 to the Miami Heat. Though, they would get back at the Heat the very next year, beating them 4-1 in the title series.

Popovich began restructuring the team after that, with Kawhi Leonard being the centerpiece of the puzzle. The strong forward eventually had certain disputes with the organization and Popovich himself, and he left San Antonio who didn’t recover ever since.

"He works out more than I thought. Every morning, he's there running on a treadmill, lifting weights."

Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama's early impressions of Gregg Popovich 😅pic.twitter.com/KTIZQ7sopu

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 30, 2023

However, with the current assets and players on the roster, the Spurs have enough resources to start another quest toward the top. In the past several years, Popovich created a few very good players who weren’t projected to succeed in the league. He has a clear plan for the current group of guys in the locker room and aims to strengthen the unit with a few more additions, plus improve them through gaining experience and creating chemistry.

Of course, Wembanyama is the main character of this story. The French sensation has enormous talent, but he needs to adjust to the NBA and prepare his body and mind for various challenges. Popovich has enough experience and knowledge of how to get out the maximum from the youngster.

Right now, the Spurs are in Charlotte, playing in the NBA Summer League. Wembanyama scored only nine points on his debut against the Hornets, shooting 2-for-13 from the field, having eight boards, three dimes, and five blocks.