Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich has officially become the all-time winningest coach after moving past Don Nelson for most regular-season victories in NBA history after the San Antonio beat the Jazz on 104-102 on Friday.
The all-time winningest coach in NBA history.
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 12, 2022
Congrats on No. 1336, Coach Pop! pic.twitter.com/RbuZxrkEWp
Coach Pop has now coached the Spurs to 1,336 wins and has won five NBA championships over 26 years as head coach.
“Pop doesn’t like praise,” Dejounte Murray said per ESPN. “He doesn’t like any of that. It’s kind of a good thing. But you also want to remind him of his success because it’s rare. Because he’s a guy that just wants to focus on winning and every day. He never brings up anything to praise himself.
“We don’t talk about [the record], but we damn sure going to enjoy it when we do get it for him because he’s a great man, and he deserves it. He pushes all his players, whether you’re the first guy, last guy, G-League player, 10-day contract, he embraces you from day one. He deserves everything.”
1,336 of ‘em. Congrats Pop. (via @NBATV) pic.twitter.com/XCxCYVM3to
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 12, 2022
Pop is the longest-tenured active coach in the League, having been in San Antonio since 1996. Popovich has also coached the Spurs to a winning record in his first 22 seasons and has led the franchise to 18 straight seasons with at least 50 wins. He also has the most combined regular-season and playoff wins in NBA history.
“I think he’s adjusted; he’s adapted,” Hall of Fame center David Robinson said. “He’s won under different circumstances with different mixtures of teams. We were a dominant defensive team, to [the teams] with Kawhi [Leonard] and all those guys, they were dominant offensively. They had a nice mix [on both sides]. And even now, you see how he’s had to adjust to a very, very different team.
“I think that’s what’s made him great. How do you win 67% of your games or whatever it is for 25 years? It’s ridiculous. It’s pretty amazing.”
Aside from his NBA success, Coach Pop has also won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the head coach of the U.S. men’s national team.
