San Antonio’s basketball world tilted on its axis Friday, May 2, 2025, when Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s winningest coach, stepped down after 29 seasons steering the Spurs. The news hit hard, especially for Becky Hammon, now head coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, who called Popovich her mentor and the reason she’s leading a team today. “My heart’s a little heavy for him,” Hammon said before her team’s preseason game against the Dallas Wings, her voice catching as she spoke of the man who shaped her career.
Popovich, 76, didn’t just coach; he built an empire. Five NBA championships, 1,422 regular-season wins, and a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2023 mark his reign. But a mild stroke in November 2024 sidelined him after just five games this season, leaving assistant coach Mitch Johnson to fill the void. Johnson, a Spurs assistant for a decade, was named permanent head coach on Friday, as Popovich transitioned to full-time president of basketball operations. The shift was quiet, deliberate, like the Spurs’ style—no drama, just a press release and a new chapter.
Hammon, who spent seven years as Popovich’s assistant from 2014 to 2021, didn’t hide her gratitude. She was the first woman to serve as a full-time paid assistant coach in the NBA, a barrier Popovich helped her smash. “He’s a huge reason why I have this job,” she said, recalling thousands of hours spent learning under him. In 2020, when Popovich was ejected from a game, Hammon became the first woman to act as head coach in an NBA regular-season match. She led the Spurs’ Summer League team to a championship in 2015, another first for a woman. Those moments, she said, were Popovich’s belief in her made real.
Now 48, Hammon’s carved her own path in Las Vegas, winning WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023, the first as a rookie coach. Fans and pundits buzzed about her as a potential Popovich successor, especially after ESPN’s Jay Williams pitched her name on “First Take” Friday, calling her “an absolute beast” who’d fit the Spurs’ culture. But Hammon shut down the chatter. “I’m super happy where I am,” she said, her focus on the Aces, not an NBA return. Still, she left the door cracked, noting any future NBA move would need “the right fit, right time, right people.”
Popovich’s departure wasn’t sudden. After his stroke, he addressed the team in March, saying he hoped to return. But a medical episode on April 15, when he fainted at a San Antonio restaurant, underscored his health challenges. He was stable, speaking, and alert, but the Spurs gave him space to decide. On May 2, he chose the front office over the sideline, ending a tenure that began in 1996 when he fired coach Bob Hill and named himself head coach.
Hammon texted Popovich after the news broke, a small gesture for a giant bond. “He’s literally one of the greatest to do it,” she said, praising his competitive fire that age never dulled. Popovich’s coaching tree is vast—Steve Kerr, Mike Budenholzer, Ime Udoka—but Hammon’s branch stands out, proof of his knack for spotting talent beyond convention.
Johnson now inherits a young Spurs squad led by Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, and Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle. Popovich, as president, will still loom large, his shadow inescapable. For Hammon, the day was about honoring the man who gave her a shot, not chasing his old job. She stood courtside in South Bend, Indiana, coaching her Aces, but her thoughts drifted to San Antonio, where Popovich’s era closed, and hers, in some ways, began.