Gregg Popovich Not Thinking Of Retirement If Spurs Win Another Championship

Gregg Popovich doesn’t plan on going anywhere in the near future.

The San Antonio Spurs coach, who has the team on the verge of a fifth NBA championship under his helm, has faced rumors that he could be retiring if the Spurs can close out the Miami Heat to avenge last year’s NBA Finals loss.

But this week Popovich said he has no plans to retire.

“I don’t feel tired. I mean, I’m tired today, but I mean in general. I’d like to continue to coach,” Popovich said before the Spurs take on the Heat for Game 5.

Popovich would put himself in an elite class if the Spurs were to win. A fifth title would move him into a tie with Pat Riley, who also has five NBA titles (four with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat), and John Kundla, who won five titles with the Minneapolis Lakers in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

For now, Gregg Popovich and the Spurs are just focused on avoiding last year’s disappointment, when they blew a lead late in Game 6 and allowed Miami to win the series in seven.

“We go back to last year and we learn from that. We’re 30 seconds away. We feel that we have it in the bag and it slips out of our fingers,” Tim Duncan said. “So I think we learn from that, and we draw on that, and we say, hey, it’s not over till it’s over. Our goal right now is to just win one more game. We’d love to do it [Sunday]. We’d love to do it in one game. But luckily we’ve put ourselves in a situation where we have a couple opportunities and we’re going to take whatever it takes. They’re going to come out and give us their best punch possible.”

It helps that Popovich has his star player returning. Duncan wouldn’t say anything for certain, but indicated that he would be back in 2014-15, presumably to defend the NBA title.

“I don’t have any plans on doing anything,” Duncan said. “I’m going to figure it out when it comes. I’m not saying I’m retiring. I’m not saying I’m not retiring. I’m not saying anything. I’m going to figure it out as it goes. I’ve always said if I feel like I’m effective, if I feel like I can contribute, I’ll continue to play. Right now I feel that way, so we’ll see what happens.”

Gregg Popovich has hinted that he will likely retire when Tim Duncan does, so Spurs fans might hope for the 38-year-old Duncan to continue drinking from whatever fountain of youth he’s evidently found.