Around the NBA: Pop steps away from coaching

Legendary coach Gregg Popovich has decided to step away from coaching and move into the Spurs’ front office and more from Around the NBA.

An unfortunate end to one of the greatest coaching careers of all time.

The NBA Playoffs continue to pick up as the second round is set to get underway. With it there’s been plenty of news surrounding teams that are still playing and those who are already looking forward to next year. So it’s time for another look around what’s going on in the Association.

Pop will no longer coach Spurs, transition to front office role

It is at least good to hear that Gregg Popovich will still be pretty involved with the team. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the longest-tenured coach in the NBA will be stepping aside from his sideline duties. Instead, he will be transitioning to the full-time role of the team’s president of basketball operations.

Popovich missed nearly all of the 2024-25 season after suffering a stroke in November. His intent was on returning as the head coach, but there was a report in April that he suffered another medical incident.

Mitch Johnson, who took over at the time, can now remove “interim” from his title as he has officially been made the new head coach.

Coaching with San Antonio for 29 years, Popovich was easily the longest tenured coach in the league. The NBA has garnered a bit of a reputation for how much turnover there is, but this was still a mind-blowing stat.

It’s such a bummer that health caused one of the greatest coaching careers in the history of the sport to come to an end. Make sure to google your favorite Pop interaction with the media today. Here’s one to get started.

Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player Awards announced

As the dust continues to settle from the regular season, awards have begun to trickle in. Sticking in San Antonio, Spurs guard Stephon Castle has taken home the Rookie of the Year award. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t really any Sixers in contention to take home any hardware. Despite only playing 23 games though, Jared McCain still earned himself a third-place vote for the award. It says a lot about what he did in that time compared to what the rest of the class was able to do.

There certainly weren’t any Sixers in the running for Most Improved Player of the Year after Tyrese Maxey earned those honors last season. Dyson Daniels of the Atlanta Hawks has won it this season, beating out Ivica Zubac and Cade Cunningham — and rightfully so. All three of those guys got a lot better this year, but it’s absurd how many high draft picks in their second or third year have been put up for that award.

Grizzlies hire new coach, Suns promote new GM

The Memphis Grizzlies completed their coaching search they got a head start on in the last few weeks of the regular season, and it’s another interim head coach promoted. ESPN’s Charania reported that Tuomas Iisalo will be replacing Taylor Jenkins. Iisalo spent much of his playing and coaching career in Europe before coming over to Memphis as an assistant last season.

More front office shakeups from another team that has a lot of figuring out to do — the Phoenix Suns have promoted Brian Gregory to the general manager role. Notably, this is just an addition to their front office. James Jones, who’s been in that role since 2019, is staying with the team and is transitioning to an advisor role according to ESPN. This will be a crucial summer for Phoenix as they deal with little room to make additions and a slightly grumpy Kevin Durant.