With the Spurs’ win over the Rockets on Friday, Coach Gregg Popovich became the only coach in NBA history to reach 1,500 victories.
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Popovich is only 1 win away from breaking Don Nelson’s all-time regular-season win total of 1,335 set by the former Bucks, Knicks, Mavericks, and Warriors coach.
Popovich became the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in 1996, his first and only NBA job, and has never looked back. Since then, he’s won five NBA championships, been named NBA Coach of the Year three times, and led Team USA to a gold medal in the 2020 Olympics
Popovich, 73, led the Spurs to 22 consecutive playoff appearances, breaking Phil Jackson’s record for the most consecutive seasons with a winning record. San Antonio has missed the last two playoffs and is now the No. 12 seed with a 20–34 record on the outside looking in.
Gregg Popovich looks set to reach the NBA Milestone of most wins as a coach
To win games in the NBA, no matter how well a team is assembled, it must be led by an equally talented coach. We’ve seen many legendary instructors do that job flawlessly over the years.
Gregg Popovich, the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, is without a doubt one of the best to have ever held the position. During the 1988-89 NBA season, he joined the Spurs as an assistant coach.
Popovich was promoted to head coach of the SAS after serving in that capacity for six seasons. He is still the franchise’s head coach, and during his tenure, he has led the team to multiple NBA championships. More specifically, he has led the team to five championships.
Gregg Popovich is the first coach in NBA history with 1,500 wins, regular season and playoffs. pic.twitter.com/3cjPGu45NH
— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 5, 2022
To put things in perspective, Popovich is one of only six NBA coaches to have managed at least 2,000 games in at least 26 seasons. The Spurs coach has a winning percentage of.659, the best among that already select group.
The East Chicago, Indiana native arrived in San Antonio to coach midway through the 1996-1997 season, and he has made the playoffs in 22 of his previous 24 full seasons, but has failed to do so the past two seasons and does not appear to be on track to do so this season.