The NBA season is still three months away, yet people cannot contain their excitement. I mean, why would they? There is a lot that is slated to happen. We have players on different rosters, exciting rookies to look forward to, and a whole new NBA In-Season Tournament as well. Although Victor Wembanyama might not have blown people away with his Summer League debut, there is still a lot of excitement about him. I guess that led to Gregg Popovich agreeing to a 5-year, $80,000,000 extension with the Spurs, something which did not sit right with Skip Bayless.
Advertisement
Gregg Popovich is 74 years old and many assumed he is set to retire soon. However, when the Spurs won the Draft Lottery, and it became clear they would sign Wemby, Pop’s retirement looked bleak. The news broken out by Adrian Wojnarowski today confirms the same.
Skip Bayless questions Gregg Popovich’s decision to extend his tenure with the Spurs
Victor Wembanyama is clearly one of the most exciting players we’ve seen in the league in a very long time. With him going to the Spurs, many people around the league are sure he’ll develop into a great player. After all, Gregg Popovich has an incredible system through which we’ve seen excellent players, as well as multiple NBA Head Coaches.
However, Skip Bayless, who was a long-time Spurs fan, did not like Pop’s decision not to retire. He took to Twitter to register his complaint about the same. In fact, Skip dug out an old statement by Popovich to question his plans, “When Tim Duncan Walks Out, I’ll Be Right Behind”
Remember when Gregg Popovich said about Tim Duncan: “When Timmy walks out that door, I’ll be right behind him”???
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) July 9, 2023
At one point in time, Coach Pop did believe that he would hang up his boots when Tim Duncan did. However, in 2018, he clarified that he felt that way once but felt otherwise when Timmy D finally retired.
With the timing of the extension, it’s clear that Pop wants to stick around and work with Wemby. At the same time, the Spurs would also want Pop there to develop their prized rookie properly. On top of all of that, Wemby is very excited to play for Coach Pop as well.
Victor Wembanyama’s first assessment of Coach Pop was all Golden
Within his first week of training with the Spurs, 7ft 5″ Victor Wembanyama was asked about his time so far with Head Coach Gregg Popovich. Talking about his experience with the legendary coach, Wemby said,
“You know he wants to take care of me and he wants me to avoid making some mistakes and it’s really pleasant. I thought I would experience the yelling a bit earlier. I haven’t yet, but I’m ready.”
Both Wemby and Coach Pop are excited to work with each other. Coach Pop might just have the next generational player on his roster, and with his experience, Wemby might just live up to his ‘GOAT contention‘ ceiling.
