Popovich signs five-year deal with the Spurs, at 74!
Gregg Popovich has extended his relationship with the Spurs, his lifelong team, for another five years. We take a look at the terms of the contract.
Gregg Popovich’s journey as a basketball coach continues. At least for another five years - he has a new contract to certify it. The Spurs have renewed the Indiana-born coach just when it seemed that his time on the bench was nearing the end. Pop turned 74 at the start of the year. By the time he completes his new agreement with the Spurs he will be close to 80.
Although the finer details of Popovich’s contract have not been officially disclosed, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has put a number on this renewal. He claims the deal will be worth upwards of $80 million. That works out at around $16 million per season. A lucrative arrangement but by no means the most expensive in the history of the NBA - the one that Monty Williams recently signed with the Detroit Pistons could see him earn, with additional variables, up to $100,000 over the next five years.
Seeing as Popovich is also the president of basketball operations, this renewal can be considered a way of tying the coach to the franchise and not just to the bench, so he could fulfill it without having to do so in the five years as head coach of the Spurs.
A year and a half ago, he surpassed Don Nelson as the coach with the most wins in the NBA’s regular season: 1,366, for the 761 losses that he has accumulated over the same period.