Popovich may walk away before his deal is up — San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and star power forward Tim Duncan have worked together in their roles ever since Duncan’s rookie season in 1997-98. Through the years, they’ve won five championships, gone on countless playoff runs and are linked together in this golden age of success for the Spurs. The conventional thinking around the NBA has always been that when Duncan retires, Popovich will be right behind him. But according to a story from USA Today‘s Sam Amick, Popovich could step down in San Antonio before his current contract expires:
Despite the prevailing thought around the league that this season would likely be 38-year-old Duncan’s last, Popovich doesn’t see it that way because — stop us if you’ve heard this before — of how well his beloved big man is playing. The two men won’t truly know until they discuss the matter this summer, like they did last offseason, but Popovich isn’t planning the retirement party just yet.
“No matter how (the season) ends, I think Timmy is going to look at (retirement) again,” Popovich told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. “And if you ask me, my guess is that he’ll go for another one because he has been so consistent this season.
“It’s just consistent stuff: another double-double, over and over and over again. Because of that, I think in his mind that if it continues through the rest of the year, I think he’ll say, ‘I’m going to go another year and see what happens.’ Because what he has told me is that the minute he feels like he’s a hindrance to his team or he’s not on the positive end or helping him, he’s going to walk right off the court. It might be during the third quarter of a game.
“He’s not going to hang on to finish a contract or make the money or have the notoriety that you know he doesn’t give a (expletive) about. So the way he’s playing now, he’s going to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing all right.’ ”
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If anything, Popovich said, he could wind up walking away before Duncan. Popovich signed a five-year contract extension last summer, but admitted that the length was a product of owner Peter Holt‘s desires more than it was his own.
“It’s a five-year contract, but the chances of staying for five years I don’t think are very good,” Popovich said.
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“This year has been a tough one,” said Popovich, whose team lost eight of 11 games at one point and was 19-14 entering New Year’s Eve. “We had an amazing schedule, a very tough November and December and we were very injured. So it knocked the hell out of us, to where we’re now just starting.
“I told them the other day, I said, ‘We’re starting the season. We finished training camp and we’re in our seventh or eighth game right now trying to get ready. The season is over half done, and we’re just rounding into some kind of shape.’ So it’s been difficult.”
Yet here they are, posing a threat yet again at a time when no one in the West would argue if they finally rode off into that San Antonio sunset.
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San Antonio Spurs vol.7
