San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich will be out indefinitely after suffering an undisclosed health issue over the weekend, and will not be with the team for upcoming games in Los Angeles and Houston. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, assistant coach Mitch Johnson is expected to be the interim head coach in Popovich’s absence.
Popovich, 75, did not coach during the Spurs’ 113-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night in San Antonio; about an hour or 1 1/2 hours before that game, Johnson said he was told he would be taking over as head coach. When asked about Popovich, Johnson said: “He is not feeling well. This has happened before. I think Everybody just always got to be ready for the next man up, right? With injuries, and sometimes people get sick or don’t feel well and things come up in life. He is just not feeling well.”
Popovich is the all-time winningest coach in NBA history, with 1,390 regular-season wins and 170 postseason victories. The five-time NBA Finals champion is in his 29th season with the Spurs.
The Spurs will face the Houston Rockets on Wednesday in Houston before returning home for a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday at the Frost Bank Center.
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