close
close

Gregg Popovich is out indefinitely for the Spurs due to an undisclosed illness

Posted on by Vanessa
Gregg Popovich is out indefinitely for the Spurs due to an undisclosed illness

play

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who was off the bench for Saturday's game against Minnesota due to an undisclosed illness, will miss at least the next two games, the team announced Monday.

The NBA's all-time winningest coach did not coach the Spurs in their 113-103 win over the Timberwolves, instead assistant coach Mitch Johnson took over.

Popovich, 75, did not travel with the team to Los Angeles for Monday's game against the Clippers, the team said, and Johnson is expected to practice Wednesday against the Clippers and Houston.

ESPN reported that Popovich had a “health issue” before Saturday's game against the Timberwolves. Johnson said he was told about two and a half hours before the game that Popovich would not be available.

“Kudos to Mitch, he did a great job tonight,” Spurs guard Chris Paul told reporters after the Spurs-Timberwolves game.

Johnson, 37, played basketball at Stanford and is in his ninth season with the Spurs. He is considered one of the best young assistant coaches in the league.

Popovich is No. 1 on the list of all-time winningest coaches with 1,391 wins in more than 28 seasons with the Spurs. Popovich, a three-time NBA Coach of the Year and five-time NBA championship coach, passed Don Nelson for the top spot in 2022.

Get to the heart of the news quickly with the USA TODAY app. Download for award-winning reporting, crosswords, audio storytelling, the e-newspaper and more.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *