NBA

Gregg Popovich's historic 29-year run as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs is over, he announced Friday.

The NBA's all-time coaching wins leader will transition into a new role as the team's president of basketball operations.

Interim head coach Mitch Johnson has been promoted to take over the head coaching job full-time. Longtime NBA insider Marc Stein first reported that Johnson was expected to take over for Popovich.

Popovich concluded that he "no longer could move forward with the taxing grind of being an NBA head coach" after he missed a majority of the 2024-25 season due to health issues, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

The Spurs announced in mid-November that Popovich suffered a mild stroke on Nov. 2 while he was at Frost Bank Center hours before their scheduled game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

At the time, general manager Brian Wright said Popovich was "doing well." The team said he had already started a rehabilitation program, but there was no timetable for him to return to the bench.

Popovich said in a statement released on Feb. 27 that he would miss the remainder of the season to continue to "focus on my health with the hope that I can return to coaching in the future."

Johnson, who has been an assistant on Popovich's staff since 2019, went 32-45 in 77 games as interim head coach this season. He had no previous head-coaching experience, but he has worked as an assistant since 2015-16 when he was hired by the University of Portland.

The Spurs brought in Johnson as an assistant for their G League affiliate starting with the 2016-17 season.

In a March 18 story about Popovich and the Spurs' future by ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Michael C. Wright, one person close to the situation said it would be "Pop's decision" if he wanted to continue coaching.

TMZ Sports reported on April 18 that Popovich required medical attention after he "fainted" at a restaurant in San Antonio, and he was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with a "non-life-threatening injury or illness."

Popovich is one of the most successful head coaches in NBA history. His 1,422 career wins are the most all-time, and his .621 winning percentage is the fourth-best among coaches with at least 1,000 games of experience.

The Spurs originally hired Popovich as an assistant on Larry Brown's staff before the 1988-89 season. He remained with the club for four seasons, then had a two-year stint as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors.

Popovich returned to San Antonio in 1994 originally as general manager and vice president of basketball operations. He took over as head coach early in the 1996-97 season after Bob Hill was fired following a 3-15 start.

Starting with Popovich's first full season in 1997-98, the Spurs began a run of 22 consecutive years with a winning record and making the playoffs. It's tied for the longest playoff streak in NBA history with the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers from 1950 to '71.

That streak includes five NBA titles in six Finals appearances. Popovich's five championships are tied with Pat Riley and John Kundla for the third-most by a head coach in league history.

JJ Redick is set to get another shot with the Los Angeles Lakers after the team's first-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in his debut postseason as head coach.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha and Sam Amick reported Friday that "Redick’s job is safe, and the Lakers are optimistic about his future with the franchise."

"Team sources say the hire was made last summer with the expectation that there would be growing pains, but they remain bullish on his ability to lead this group," Buha and Amick wrote.

Both LeBron James and Luka Dončić spoke positively about Redick after Wednesday's Game 5 loss. Buha and Amick believe those comments indicate that "Redick has the full support of the locker room as well."

"I think he's a hell of a coach," Dončić said. "Not many coaches do the stuff he did in his first year. I'm really glad I got coached by him this couple months. I feel sometimes like I'm back in Europe a little bit, so I love it. We have a great bond, so it's been nothing but amazing with him as a coach."

James said: "I thought he handled it extremely well. I thought he learned every single day, held us accountable, he pushed us. I thought JJ and his coaching staff were great throughout the whole season."

General manager Rob Pelinka also spoke in support of Redick during his end-of-season press conference.

"This season was full of some exciting things that we really need to lean into for our future. One is the coach sitting next to me," Pelinka said, per Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times. "JJ brought just a complete revival of energy and incredibly hard work ethic, attention to detail, a spirit to our team, to our group, to our franchise as a rookie coach that we haven’t seen in a long time. Our level of confidence, my level of confidence couldn’t be higher.”

Redick found less postseason success than the Lakers' last few first-year head coaches. Frank Vogel made his Lakers debut by leading the team to a title in the 2020 bubble playoffs. Darvin Ham capped off his first season in Los Angeles by taking the Lakers to the 2023 Western Conference Finals.

Redick, however, did lead the Lakers to the No. 3 seed and 50 regular season wins, the franchise's highest win total since the 2020 championship season. That included a 19-13 stretch following Dončić's debut.

Keeping both Dončić and James happy will likely be key to the Lakers' plans going forward. Dončić is eligible to sign a four-year, $229 extension starting Aug. 2, and James has until June 29 to make a decision regarding his $52.6 million player option for 2025-26.

Pelinka told reporters on Thursday that the Lakers will do "whatever we can" to match James' expectations for the roster going forward. That could potentially include keeping Redick on as head coach.

Despite not being eligible for a supermax contract as a result of being traded midway through the season, Luka Dončić will likely sign a new deal with the Los Angeles Lakers eventually.

Per The Athletic's Jovan Buha and Sam Amick, the five-time All-Star is "widely expected" to sign a deal with Los Angeles "at some point."

ESPN's Dave McMenamin also reported Dončić will "take his time" with his decision on an extension in Los Angeles.

The timing and terms of an agreement will be worth keeping an eye on. Taking the supermax off the table means Dončić could decide to negotiate in such a way that will help him maximize his long-term earnings.

In the aftermath of the February trade that sent Dončić to the Lakers, ESPN's Bobby Marks broke down the three different contract options at his disposal.

Dončić can't sign any extension until Aug. 2 if he decides to do so. The two-plus-one option would allow him to sign a five-year deal worth up to $418 million that starts with the 2028-29 season.

If Dončić opts for immediate long-term security, he could sign a four-year, $228.6 million extension that goes into effect in the 2026-27 season. That would help the Lakers manage the cap since it would keep his average annual salary at $57.15 million.

Dončić could also elect to play out his current deal, opt out after the 2025-26 season and sign a five-year contract with the Lakers worth up to $296 million. The $59.2 million average annual salary would rank third among all current deals, ironically just ahead of Anthony Davis ($58.5 million).

Asked about his contract after the Lakers' season-ending loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, Dončić explained he hadn't really thought about it.

"I've been focused on basketball," Dončić said. "So obviously this is the time now to think about everything."

Buha and Amick noted the Lakers made the trade without receiving any assurance from Dončić that he would sign a long-term deal with them.

There was speculation at the end of the 2022-23 season that the Dallas Mavericks were concerned about Dončić potentially seeking a way out if the organization continued to struggle. The Mavs had just wrapped up a season in which they finished 38-44 and blatantly tanked in the final week to protect their draft pick.

Any concern about Dončić requesting a trade out of Dallas went away when the front office assembled a roster that got the Mavs to the NBA Finals last year. That same front office stunned the world by deciding they wanted to be out of the Dončić business seven months after the Finals.

Since Dončić is still new to Los Angeles and doesn't have nearly the same emotional attachment to the organization that he did with the Mavs, general manager Rob Pelinka and his staff could be under some pressure to prove they can build a roster capable of contending for a title consistently before the 26-year-old decides to commit to them.

If Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James returns to play next season, it reportedly won't be for a discount.

According to Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic, the 40-year-old is not expected to take a pay cut to accommodate the Lakers like he did last offseason when he took about $2.7 million less in order to help the team stay under the second salary apron.

James has a $52.6 million player option in his contract for next season after earning about $48.7 million this season.

After the Minnesota Timberwolves knocked the Lakers out of the first round of the playoffs with a 103-96 win in Game 5 on Wednesday, the four-time NBA champion was noncommittal about his playing future.

James told reporters he was unsure how much longer he would continue to play, if at all:

"I don't know. I don't have an answer to that. Something I'll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. I don't know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So we'll see."

On Thursday, ESPN's Shams Charania appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and said there is "no expectation" for James to retire, adding that his "understanding" is he will play at least one more season:

Despite being the oldest player in the NBA, LeBron was still among the best this season, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game over 70 appearances.

The NBA's all-time leading scorer had his lowest scoring output since his rookie season in 2003-04, but he still impacted the game in myriad ways and helped L.A. seize the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with a 50-32 record.

He was undoubtedly aided by the acquisition of superstar guard Luka Dončić, who gave James the type of ball-handling and playmaking support he hadn't had since teaming with Kyrie Irving while with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Perhaps most importantly and impressively, James reached the 70 games played mark for the second consecutive season after playing in fewer than 70 for five straight years from 2018-19 through 2022-23.

Most players are long retired by James' age, but he is still playing at an elite level, and it feels like he is still capable of being a top player on a championship team.

Assuming James plays next season, the Lakers are set to return their core of LeBron, Luka, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, although there is no doubt they need to add to the frontcourt after getting dominated in the paint by Minnesota.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka acknowledged that fact Thursday, telling Jovan Buha of The Athletic that adding size is one of his "primary goals" this coming offseason.

It doesn't sound as though James is going to take less money in order to facilitate that type of move, but if Pelinka can still make it happen, the Lakers could be a title contender with LeBron and Dončić leading the way.

Even though it's been assumed LeBron James will spend the remaining years of his NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, there is reportedly at least a possibility he could look to play for another organization.

According to The Athletic's Jovan Buha and Sam Amick, citing people close to James and Lakers team sources, they "would not rule that possibility out" of the future Hall of Famer potentially signing with another team this summer in pursuit of a championship:

"But if he decides to play longer and wants a Lakers extension to go along with that choice, then team sources say that conversation will begin with a familiar question: Is he still happy as a Laker?

"Ever since James came to town in 2018, his relationship with the organization has hinged on the answer to that question. If the answer is yes this time, then there’s a discussion to be had on that front. But if it’s not, then the prospect of him finishing his career elsewhere could be in play."

As has been tradition when the Lakers' season ends, James left open the possibility he could retire following their Game 5 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

"I don't know. I don't have an answer to that," he told reporters when asked about his playing future. "Something I'll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens. And just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. I don't know the answer to that right now, to be honest. So we'll see."

In the same press conference, James said "I got a lot to think about myself" when asked about the state of the Lakers roster and his $52.6 million player option for 2025-26.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin noted he spoke with James after the press conference, and his comments weren't necessarily about not wanting to play with the Lakers.

"Just continuing to play, I don't know where I'm at," James said. "That's what that is. Not coming back to play here. Just playing period."

There was one moment during the press conference that did stand out. It was when James got asked about the difficulty of playing with a true starting center after Anthony Davis was traded to the Dallas Mavericks as part of the Luka Dončić deal (starts at 6:50 mark).

James did end his answer with a laugh, so it could be interpreted as a lighthearted response. But history has shown he doesn't say or do anything in public by accident.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka seemed to be aware of James' comments. He said during his end-of-season press conference on Thursday that they will do "whatever we can" to meet roster expectations for the 40-year-old this summer.

Buha and Amick did note one thing that won't be on the table this summer, as opposed to last offseason, is a pay cut for James. His agent, Rich Paul, told McMenamin last June that James would consider signing for less than the max to open up the full midlevel exception if the Lakers could sign an "impact player."

Things didn't work for the Lakers to open up the full midlevel, though James still took a slight reduction in pay on a two-year, $101.3 million deal when he could have signed for up to $104 million.

Considering how much of James' life and businesses outside of basketball are based in the Los Angeles area, it would be a surprise if he left the Lakers.

If things don't play out how James wants with their roster construction this summer, or if he doesn't like the direction of the Lakers, maybe he would at least look into the possibility of playing for another team before his career comes to an end.