Spurs, Gregg Popovich announce contract extension

Gregg Popovich isn’t going anywhere. While the rest of the NBA is hanging on the whims of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in free agency, the Spurs quietly announced they had agreed to an extension with the coach who has led them to five championships.

This was the entirety of the team’s press release:

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that head coach Gregg Popovich has agreed to a multi-year contract extension. Per club policy terms of the contract were not disclosed.

That’s it. It’s perfectly fitting for a man of so few words and an organization that has had more success than any other while avoiding the whirlwind spotlight that follows so many of the game’s biggest stars.

Popovich has been the Spurs’ head coach since 1996. He was already a future Hall of Fame inductee well before he led the Spurs to the Finals in 2013 and a championship in 2014, but his greatness has never felt so cemented. The three-time NBA coach of the year has become the top individual in his field with Phil Jackson retired from coaching, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going to call it quits any time soon.

The Spurs have been on a historic run under Popovich and star big man Tim Duncan, winning 50 or more games 15 consecutive years. It should really be 17 straight years but the 1999 lockout shortened the season to only 50, of which the Spurs won 74 percent of them. Popovich joined Jackson, Red Auerbach, Pat Riley and John Kundla as the only coaches to NBA history to win five or more titles with the Spurs’ most recent title.

Popovich’s 967 career regular season victories place ninth all-time.