He’s now won more games than anyone in NBA history, but the Air Force veteran’s most important legacy will be speaking out on injustice, racism, police brutality to a red-state audience
With San Antonio’s 104-102 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, longtime Spurs coach Gregg Popovich recorded his 1,336th regular-season win to pass Don Nelson for the most in NBA history.
Popovich coached Tim Duncan for almost two decades, never missing the playoffs during a span that included five NBA championships. Under his leadership, the Spurs organization became the league standard for professionalism, respectability and doing things the “right way”, a reputation that rubbed off on San Antonio greats like David Robinson, Manu Ginobli, Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Avery Johnson, Sean Elliott, LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay and countless others.