{"id":18125,"date":"2024-12-17T06:55:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T06:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125"},"modified":"2024-12-17T06:55:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T06:55:46","slug":"breaking-gregg-popovich-plans-to-return-to-the-sidelines-spurs-coach-says-in-first-comments-following-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs’ coach says in first comments following stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\"Gregg
Gregg Popovich, Spurs coach since December 1996, had what the team said was a mild stroke on Nov. 2.<\/span>Erin Clark\/Globe Staff<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Spurs coach Gregg Popovich intends to return to coaching, he said Monday in his first public comments since suffering a stroke in early November.<\/span><\/p>\n

Popovich, the NBA\u2019s career wins leader, released a statement through the Spurs expressing gratitude for the support he has received in recent weeks. He had\u00a0what the Spurs said was a mild stroke\u00a0about 2\u00bd hours prior to the team\u2019s home game against Minnesota on Nov. 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no timetable for his return to coaching, though the Spurs have said doctors expect Popovich to make a full recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

<\/main><\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis has certainly been an unexpected six weeks for my family and me,\u201d Popovich said. \u201cAs we work together on my recovery, I want to take a moment to share that the outpouring of support we\u2019ve received during this time has been truly overwhelming in the best possible way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I wish I could get back to each one of you, for now, let me say that my family and I are forever grateful. We\u2019re thankful for our wonderful community, the entire Spurs organization, and our family and friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Get Starting Point<\/p>\n

A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The 75-year-old Popovich has led the Spurs to five championships and guided the United States to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He is in his 29th season as coach of the Spurs.<\/p>\n

The stroke happened at the team\u2019s arena, and since rescue workers were there, Popovich was able to start receiving treatment almost immediately. He was transported to a nearby hospital.<\/p>\n

It has not been revealed what lingering effects of the stroke Popovich is dealing with, and how much longer his rehabilitation process may take. Longtime Spurs assistant Mitch Johnson has served as acting coach in Popovich\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cMitch has done an incredible job,\u201d Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said earlier this month.<\/p>\n

In his typical self-deprecating style, Popovich said those assisting in his rehabilitation are eager for him to return to work.<\/p>\n

Evidently, he\u2019s not the best patient \u2014 or a patient person.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process,\u201d Popovich said. \u201cThey\u2019ve quickly learned that I\u2019m less than coachable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Popovich is one of only three coaches to win the NBA coach of the year award three times, with Don Nelson and Pat Riley. He\u2019s one of five coaches with at least five NBA titles; Phil Jackson (11), Red Auerbach (nine), John Kundla (five), and Riley (five) are the others.<\/p>\n

Popovich has been part of the Spurs for nearly 35 years. He was an assistant coach from 1988-92, then returned to the club on May 31, 1994, as its executive vice president for basketball operations and general manager. He fired coach Bob Hill and appointed himself coach on Dec. 10, 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to the day that we can welcome him back,\u201d Spurs general manager Brian Wright said last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 75-year-old Popovich, part of the Spurs for nearly 35 years, is one of only three coaches to win the NBA coach of the year award three times and one of five with at least five NBA titles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs' coach says in first comments following stroke - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs' coach says in first comments following stroke - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 75-year-old Popovich, part of the Spurs for nearly 35 years, is one of only three coaches to win the NBA coach of the year award three times and one of five with at least five NBA titles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-17T06:55:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs' coach says in first comments following stroke - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-17T06:55:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-17T06:55:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":1500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs’ coach says in first comments following stroke\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798\",\"name\":\"MsNga\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsNga\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=4\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs' coach says in first comments following stroke - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs' coach says in first comments following stroke - News 365","og_description":"The 75-year-old Popovich, part of the Spurs for nearly 35 years, is one of only three coaches to win the NBA coach of the year award three times and one of five with at least five NBA titles.","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2024-12-17T06:55:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1300,"height":1500,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MsNga","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsNga","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125","name":"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs' coach says in first comments following stroke - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-17T06:55:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-17T06:55:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-143.jpg","width":1300,"height":1500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18125#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING: Gregg Popovich plans to return to the sidelines, Spurs’ coach says in first comments following stroke"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b1c32261ea7c1375bc99d782277ee798","name":"MsNga","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b3e1c10558dfaf162a998dc15535744ef38d91fd35d4fed1d170bd077977aa6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsNga"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=4"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18127,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18125\/revisions\/18127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}