Gregg Popovich, the NBA's GOAT coach, has retired. His impact will remain unmatched

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Steph Curry has been haunting the Rockets organization and its fans for a decade now. Five series. Five wins. No mercy. He’s 20-10 in the playoffs against the Rockets. He is the Boogeyman to them. They need him to retire.

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Best Coach Ever

Gregg Popovich transitions to new Spurs role

Not long after we sent our Friday edition of the newsletter, we had the breaking news that Gregg Popovich was stepping away from coaching the Spurs. Coach Pop suffered a stroke back on Nov. 2, and hasn’t coached the team since. There were thoughts that he might be able to get back to the sidelines at some point during the season, but the 76-year-old has decided with the Spurs organization to transition full-time into a front office role as the president of basketball operations.

The Spurs didn’t put a whole lot of drama into who will replace Popovich as the coach to lead Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox and the bevy of young talent on the roster. While many have believed this will become the most coveted coaching job in sports because of Wemby, the Spurs quickly hired Mitch Johnson for the role. Johnson was the replacement for Pop during the season while Pop was away from the team in recovery from the stroke. He’s the first coaching hire for the Spurs in three decades.

Popovich’s résumé is about as historic as it gets: 

• 1,422 regular-season wins, the most ever.
• 170 playoff wins, third-most ever and most by a coach with one team.
• 1,592 total wins (playoffs and regular season), most all time.
• Five championships, tied for third-most ever.
• 22 straight postseason appearances, the longest streak ever.
• 29 seasons coaching, NBA record.
• During his tenure, he faced 170 different coaches.
• In his 29 years with the Spurs, there were 303 coaching changes around the NBA.

In my opinion, Popovich is the greatest NBA coach that ever existed. I understand the arguments for Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach. If you have either of them above him, I don’t fault you. Pop is the greatest in my eyes. I think his adjustments, his approach, the culture he set with Tim Duncan, the systems, the adaptations to different eras and the humanitarian approach he took with his players all combined to put him above the rest.

For the longest time, Popovich had this gruff, harsh exterior with the media. It was referred to as “getting Pop’d” if he gave a snarky response to a question. I remember more than a decade ago being in Minneapolis before a Wolves, Spurs game. I was still very early in my media career, and in his pre-game media scrum, I asked Pop in the hallways of the Target Center about defending corner 3-pointers. I thought it was a smart question and maybe Pop would be impressed by my acumen.

He wasn’t. He looked at me and said, “You think if I knew the answer to that, I’d tell you?” He looked back to the rest of the media members and everybody just kind of looked down or off into the distance. I kind of smiled at him and responded, “If I asked nicely?” He gave the slightest smile out of the corner of his mouth and walked off. He wasn’t scary. He just would rather go coach. His real job.

The Spurs posted a quick, 56-second glimpse into Pop’s career. Draymond Green spoke for three minutes on what it meant to him to compete against Popovich. Rockets coach (and former player and assistant under Pop) Ime Udoka told a story about Pop getting emotional when the Celtics offered Udoka the coaching job in 2021. Former player Shawnelle Scott played one season under Pop and lauded the way his life was changed.

Pop served our country in the Air Force, and he served the game of basketball. He spoke up for what he believed in, regardless of what it might mean for him. He’s an incredibly important figure, and he’ll be missed on the sidelines. We’re glad he’s prioritizing his health.

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The Last 24

Was LeBron really going to miss playoff games?

🩼 MCL sprain. LeBron James sprained his MCL in Game 5 loss to the Wolves. He allegedly couldn’t have played in a Game 6. 

🏀 Just like college. Brad Stevens’ days at Butler prepared him for something big: Making the Celtics champions. 

🏀 Interim tag dropped. The Grizzlies have decided who their coach is. Tuomas Iisalo gets the full-time job.

🎹 Let’s rock. NBC is bringing what we all wanted to their NBA coverage. “Roundball Rock” is back. 

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s NBA Daily examines what went wrong for the Cavaliers in Game 1 vs. the Pacers.

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Round 2 Storylines

The five biggest storylines of second round

Technically, the semifinals are already underway because the Pacers stole homecourt advantage from the Cavaliers with a 121-112 victory in Game 1. Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points, 13 assists, three blocks, one turnover and a few fourth quarter defensive stops, while Andrew Nembhard continued his trend of being a playoff performer with 23 points and 5-of-6 shooting from deep.

The Cavs got 33 points on 13-of-30 shooting (1-of-11 from deep) from Donovan Mitchell, and were missing Darius Garland with that toe injury. Cleveland’s defense couldn’t cover Indiana and now the Cavaliers have to make sure they win Game 2. But is that the most compelling storyline of the second round of the playoffs? Here are the five biggest stories to track now that we’re underway.

1. The MVP debate gets settled in a few ways. We know the MVP award will not be announced this coming week. But it will likely be announced the following week, especially with voting done. By then, we’ll have seen at least four games of the series between the Thunder and the Nuggets. Assuming we don’t see a sweep in that series, we’ll get to see if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić try to put any extra sauce on these games, as the two leading MVP candidates all season long.

We won’t quite get the Hakeem Olajuwon-David Robinson battle from the 1995 Western Conference finals. Robinson won MVP that year over Olajuwon and then averaged 23.8 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in six games against The Dream, who went for 35.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, five assists and 4.2 blocks per game to advance to his second straight NBA Finals. We’ll see if Jokić ends up getting the better of SGA and the Thunder by the time this thing is announced.

2. Revenge on Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. There are a lot of storylines to track in the series between Minnesota and Golden State. Green and Rudy Gobert have a history that once involved Green choking the French center out of nowhere. Butler had his ugly breakup with the Wolves back in 2018. And, of course, you’ll definitely hear that Steph Curry was passed over twice by Minnesota in the 2009 draft. The Wolves also took Anthony Edwards before the Warriors selected James Wiseman with the second pick in 2020. There’s a lot going on here before we even get to them trying to get to the conference finals.

3. Can the Pacers actually do this? As we mentioned, they took Game 1. Was this an aberration, though? We’ve tried to prepare people for the Pacers possibly surprising everybody again. Since Jan. 1, they have the fourth-best record, sport the seventh-best offense, are tied for the ninth-best defense and have the sixth-best net rating. Cleveland was only a half-game better in this stretch. Indiana presents a lot of potential matchup issues if Cleveland isn’t sharp.

4. Are the Cavs a changed playoff team? We saw the Cavs dismantle a mediocre Heat team, but they’ll be truly tested in this round against Indiana. We saw them come up way short shooting the ball (9-of-38 shooting from 3). And their offense just wasn’t balanced (50 of 98 shots came from Mitchell and Ty Jerome). Kenny Atkinson had them playing incredible, changed basketball all season. Let’s see how they respond in the next couple of games to take back control of the series.

5. Can the Knicks survive the Celtics? The Knicks lost four games by 65 points to the defending champions this season. Boston hit 84 3-pointers in those four games, making 50 percent of its shots and 43.5 percent of its 3s. The Celtics had an offensive rating of 130.2 against New York. Everything the Knicks are vulnerable at doing, the Celtics are elite at exploiting. If Boston destroys them, is everyone’s job safe? Will this roster come back intact? Can the Knicks flip a switch and surprise Boston?

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Farewell to Thee

Rockets, Clippers: Have a good summer

Two Game 7s for the Clippers and Rockets this weekend. Two frustrating and disappointing outcomes for those teams. We say farewell to both of their seasons.

The Clippers were absolutely smoked by Denver in the second and third quarters, getting outscored 72-40. The Nuggets were up by as many as 35 points before winning 120-101. So, what’s next for this Clippers team that excelled after being financially conscious and got a healthy Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs?

Clippers (50-32, fifth in the West)

• Draft pick situation: Their pick (24th) gets swapped for OKC’s pick (30th). Their second-round pick (52nd) goes to Utah, but they receive Minnesota’s (51st).
• Upcoming free agents: James Harden ($36.3m player option), Nicolas Batum ($4.9m player option), Amir Coffey, Patty Mills, Jordan Miller (restricted), Ben Simmons
• Main guys: Leonard, Ivica Zubac, Harden, Norman Powell
• Any cap room? Not in the slightest.
• Do they have to worry about any tax aprons? They should have roughly $20 million of space under the first apron. That’s why they punted on Paul George.
• What do they need this summer? Backup big man, maybe another wing creator. They want to maintain 2026 summer flexibility, though.

As for the Rockets, what a brilliant step forward after a 41-41 season a year ago. They know Amen Thompson is a star in the making, but what do they do after losing Game 7 at home 103-89?

Rockets (52-30, second in the West)

• Draft pick situation: Bad news: Their pick (27th) is headed to Brooklyn. Good news: They receive Phoenix’s pick (ninth). Their second-round pick (56th) is headed to Memphis, but they get OKC’s second-round pick (59th).
• Upcoming free agents: Fred VanVleet ($44.8m team option), Steven Adams, Jeff Green, Jae’Sean Tate, Aaron Holiday ($4.9m team option)
• Main guys: Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson, Jalen Green, Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr.
• Any cap room? Not if they’re picking up the VanVleet team option or working a new deal for him.
• Do they have to worry about any tax aprons? They’ll probably be over the first apron, and depending on if they make any big acquisitions, they’re within shouting distance of the second apron.
• What do they need this summer? Scoring. As was proven in the regular season and playoffs, they need a reliable, top-level perimeter scorer, who can also create for others.

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