Gregg Popovich will not coach this season. He is not ruling out a comeback in the future.
Popovich met with the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, releasing a statement afterward to make his decision on this season — and hope for next season — public. The 76-year-old Popovich, the NBA‘s all-time coaching wins leader, had a stroke at the team’s arena in San Antonio on Nov. 2 and has been away from the team since.
“I’ve decided not to return to the sidelines this season,” Popovich said in a statement distributed by the team. “[Acting coach] Mitch Johnson and his staff have done a wonderful job and the resolve and professionalism the players have shown, sticking together during a challenging season, has been outstanding.”
Popovich has been in regular contact with Johnson, some team officials and has talked with some players at times during his absence — but he has not been seen at games or been known to be at any practices since the stroke happened.
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“I will continue to focus on my health with the hope that I can return to coaching in the future,” Popovich said.
Popovich’s visit to the team came a week after the Spurs announced that All-Star center Victor Wembanyama — the defensive player of the year favorite at the time and someone who was a serious candidate to make the All-NBA team — will not play again this season after deep vein thrombosis, or a blood clot, was found in his right shoulder.
The Spurs have not updated Popovich’s rehabilitation process in some time, other than saying that he is expected to make a full recovery. The team has not revealed what, if any, issues Popovich has been dealing with since the stroke.
Popovich agreed to a five-year contract extension with the team in 2023, one that would have him signed to be on the sideline through the 2027-28 season. His only public comment prior to Thursday about his health and his future came in mid-December, when he said he and his family were overwhelmed by “the outpouring of support we’ve received during this time.”
Popovich mentioned returning to coaching in that statement, but did not reveal any timetable in a self-deprecating quip. “No one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process,” Popovich said in the December statement. “They’ve quickly learned that I’m less than coachable.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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