Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich made history on March 11, 2022, tallying his 1,336th win to pass the great Don Nelson as the winningest coach in NBA history.
Popovich's all-time leading win total is proof of how productive he has been at the helm of San Antonio, seeing success throughout his 26-year tenure in different eras of the NBA, winning championships with a number of stars while developing plenty of talent along the way.
For every established star he coached, Popovich has also elevated players with less hype coming into the NBA like 2022 All-Star Dejounte Murray.
Player development aside, another area where Popovich really separates himself from some of the other greatest head coaches in NBA history is that he has turned the Spurs coaching staff into a hotbed for promotions around the league.
In the NBA today, six of the other 29 head coaches in the league have previously come up through Popovich's coaching staff — and that is without counting someone like Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who played under Popovich, filled his spot as USA Basketball's head coach and considers him a mentor.
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The way in which Popovich has achieved such greatness in San Antonio has built its own culture in the NBA – "The Spurs Way."
It's a way of winning that goes beyond the X's and O's, placing importance on team basketball over individual success. It became a strategy building block for all franchises in small markets like San Antonio, which don't typically attract the league's biggest names in free agency.
"The Spurs Way" does, however, put more pressure on hitting on prospects in the NBA Draft, like the Spurs landing Tim Duncan or a team like the Milwaukee Bucks selecting Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer got his start in San Antonio in 1994 when Popovich – the Spurs general manager at the time – hired him as a video coordinator at the age of 25. Budenholzer was in that role for two years before being promoted to an assistant coach under head coach Popovich.
Budenholzer won four NBA titles with the Spurs as an assistant under Popovich, then took his first head coaching job with the Atlanta Hawks following San Antonio's loss to the Miami Heat in the 2013 NBA Finals. There, Budenholzer turned the Hawks into the Spurs of the East, seeing immediate success.
Then there are two younger head coaches who learned under Popovich in Charlotte Hornets head coach James Borrego and Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.
Borrego was an assistant under Popovich from 2003 to 2010 and again from 2015 to 2018 before leaving for Charlotte's head coaching position. Udoka's path was slightly different, playing under Popovich as a member of the Spurs from 2007 to 2009 and during the 2010-11 season before jumping on the coaching staff as an assistant from 2013 to 2019.
Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder and Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins also have ties to Popovich's coaching tree, coming up the ranks through the Spurs' G League team. Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams has a similar path to Kerr, learning under Popovich for two seasons as a player.
Popovich's coaching tree roots are even spreading into the WNBA, where Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, who has been on the staff since 2014, was just recently appointed as head coach of the Las Vegas Aces.
Others like Brett Brown, Jim Boylen, Mike Brown, Jacque Vaughn and Joe Prunty, each of whom served in various roles from head coaching stints to long-time assistant coaching jobs, came up under Popovich.
While his standing as the winningest coach of all time will always remind us of Popovich's impact on the NBA, his wide-spread coaching tree will keep his fingerprints on the NBA for years and years to come.