Gregg Popovich Expected To Sign Three-Year Extension

When Gregg Popovich officially commits to a 24th season with the San Antonio Spurs, the franchise is expected to sign him to a three-year contract extension that will keep him in town through 2012-22, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports.

Popovich is and will continue to be the highest paid coach in the NBA – reportedly earning $11 million per year on his current deal.

While the framework for the extension may be in place, Popovich will continue to take his career on a year-to-year basis. The 70-year-old just led his team to a 22nd consecutive postseason finish and pushed the No. 2-seeded Denver Nuggets to a decisive Game 7.

As recently as January it was reported that Popovich was uncertain about his coaching future. Marc Stein of The New York Times profiled the long-time bench boss, writing that franchise general manager R.C. Buford was willing to let him coach as long as he wanted to.

Popovich, of course, isn’t exactly a difficult coach to be loyal to, the team’s 48-34 finish in 2018-19 was the second worst full season of the head coach’s reign. The worst? Their 2017-18 season that saw them finish 47-35.

This year, with the drama surrounding Kawhi Leonard behind the franchise, Popovich leaned on traditional stars LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan proving that mid-range-centric players can still contribute to a winner in this league.

The Spurs had just the 22nd fastest pace in the NBA this season, up from 29th the year prior, but boasted the 6th highest offensive rating.

Popovich is currently slated to coach the U.S. Olympic team this fall and again next summer in Tokyo. Per Wojnarowski, there’s some belief that he could use the Olympics as his final coaching gig.