MY ACCOUNT
History was made at AT&T Center on Friday as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz to secure coach Gregg Popovich’s place in the record books.
The 73-year-old’s 1,336th victory of his coaching career puts him out on his own as the man with the most wins in the NBA, overtaking Don Nelson’s previous record.
An outstanding effort from the Spurs in the fourth quarter that saw them score 40 points earned Popovich the landmark win over the Jazz, 104-102.
The Chicago-born coach, who is also president at the Spurs, moved to the NBA in July 1988 to join the Spurs as assistant coach to Larry Brown, spending four seasons with a team that won two Midwest Division titles.
Popovich actually moved to Golden State in 1992 to be an assistant to Nelson at the Warriors for two seasons, before returning to San Antonio in 1994 as the Spurs executive vice president of basketball operations/general manager. He was named the team’s head coach in December 1996.
Popovich took just two full seasons to win his first NBA title, also the first ever in franchise history, in 1999, before following up with four more in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014.
He has therefore been responsible for all of the NBA titles won by the Spurs since they became a part of the league in 1976. He also won three coach of the year awards in 2003, 2012 and 2014.
Popovich led San Antonio to the NBA’s best regular season record five times (1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2011-12 and 2013-14), and is the longest tenured coach with the same team among all NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB franchises.
He is one of only five coaches in history with five-or-more NBA Championships to his name, along with Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, John Kundla and Pat Riley.
While his regular season win percentage has taken a bit of a hit in recent times, it still sits at an impressive .658 across his career, though, as you would imagine for someone with five championships in the bag, his postseason record is among the best.
Popovich has registered 170 playoff wins, which is the third-most in NBA history behind Jackson and Riley, and his playoff career win percentage of .599 (170-114) is the fourth-most in league history (from a minimum of 100 games).
From his first full season on, he took the Spurs to the playoffs for 22 consecutive years, tying the record with the 76ers – firstly the Syracuse Nationals before heading to Philadelphia – who reached the playoffs every year from 1950 to 1971.
However, the Spurs have not made the postseason since 2019, and at 26-41, are on course to end the season with a losing record for the third straight year.
Rumours are circling that this could be Popovich’s final season, and it would be an emotional goodbye if it does come to pass, though the famously level-headed coach would despise the idea of a fuss being made of him.
He is one of the most liked and well-respected figures in the game and so if it is to be his last hurrah, it is at least suitable to have this one last reason to celebrate all he has achieved in the game.
Of current active coaches, only Doc Rivers stands a realistic chance of catching him anytime soon, currently sitting on 1,032 wins, though he is 13 years Popovich’s junior.
That will likely still be a long way off, though, given Popovich posted his 1,000th career win over seven years ago, which Rivers only passed in November.
So for now, ‘Coach Pop’ can sit at the top of the tree safe in the knowledge that nobody has experienced that winning feeling in the NBA as often as he has.
He would likely trade in all the inevitable celebrations and kudos for win number 1,337 against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, though.
