Longtime San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich earned his 1,336th coaching victory with a 104-102 win over the Utah Jazz on March 11, passing former Warriors coach Don Nelson for the most regular season career coaching wins and taking the title as the NBA’s all-time winningest coach.
In 26 NBA seasons as head coach, Popovich has led the Spurs to five championship titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) and was named NBA Coach of the Year thrice (2003, 2012 and 2014).
Ahead of his realm as San Antonio head coach, Popovich spent six seasons as an NBA assistant coach (1988-94) including two seasons under former Dubs’ head coach Don Nelson.
The pair, along with current Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr, were recently named among the Top 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History in celebration of the league’s 75th Anniversary season.
In recognition of Popovich passing Nelson (1,335) as the all-time wins leader, ‘Nellie’ shared a congratulatory video message with “one of (his) best friends in life.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Nelson sincerely shared. “I couldn’t wait for this day to happen.”
Likewise, Kerr has undergone his own full circle journey with the legendary Spurs coach, playing under Popovich as a player in 1999 and helping the Spurs reach the 1999 NBA Finals to win their first NBA Championship with a 4–1 series victory over the New York Knicks.
Popovich and Kerr continued to develop their relationship through the years, with Kerr serving as an assistant coach under Popovich for the 2017-21 USA Basketball Men’s National Team, including for the gold medal winning squad at last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo.
“Let me just say thank you,” Kerr humbled stated.
“What is really meaningful to me and to all of your former players is just what you’ve meant to us on a personal level, how much you’ve helped us grow as people, the experiences that you provided for us and the incredible run that we were all apart of in San Antonio, you are just an amazing coach and an amazing man.”
With his 1,336th career coaching victory, Popovich remains engrained in league history as the NBA’s all-time winningest coach.