"Wanted to make a statement": Victor Wembanyama explains why Gregg Popovich still helps Spurs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Dominance is expected from the San Antonio Spurs. Victor Wembanyama and Co. are a win away from going back to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2017. It seems odd for a lot of fans to see Coach Mitch Johnson on the sidelines and not someone else who has been with them for about three decades. But, there is no need to worry because Coach Gregg Popovich is still helping them in this NBA Playoffs run.
Why is Coach Popovich still helping the Spurs led by Wembanyama?
The technical answer here is that Coach Gregg Popovich is still part of the Spurs organization. He is the current President of Basketball Operations. More than that, he also does rehabilitation sessions in the same space that Coach Mitch Johnson holds practices. So, it is not at all hard to see why the veteran coach wants to help Victor Wembanyama get his first Larry O'Brien trophy.
However, this does not at all explain why Coach Popovich is still helping the Spurs. There are not a lot of people who know his motive but Wembanyama does and he unveiled it in the middle of their NBA Playoffs run, via Jared Weiss of The Athletic.
"He maybe wanted to make a statement, or make his talking even more impactful, by being there. He gives feedback and talks to us regularly throughout our series, throughout our games. As always, when he speaks, everybody listens," the Spurs superstar said.
Notably, a lot of Spurs fans speculated that Coach Popovich helped 'figure out' the Minnesota Timberwolves after Wembanyama got ejected for the first time in his career. They may not be wrong at all but there is no fault to go around either. Coach Popovich is an insanely gifted basketball mind who is only rivaled in all-time NBA Playoffs history by greats like Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson.
If he wants to make a statement and let the Spurs dominate, Coach Popovich has all the liberty to do that. Other teams simply need to be better in dealing with his schemes and rotations.
