Gregg Popovich is no longer the Spurs’ head coach, but apparently nobody told the film room.
After San Antonio’s narrow Game 1 loss to the Timberwolves, Popovich was reportedly at the Spurs facility and involved in the team’s film session. Matthew Tynan reported that the Spurs went light physically, but heavy mentally, with Pop sitting in as the group reviewed the 104-102 loss.
Gregg Popovich was apparently involved in today’s film session with Spurs
(Via: @Matthew_Tynan) pic.twitter.com/YYtWNn4arT
— Spurs Culture (@SpursCulture) May 6, 2026
This is not just any retired coach drifting through the building for coffee. Popovich is now the Spurs’ president of basketball operations after stepping down from coaching for health reasons, ending a 29-season run on the bench that included five championships and the NBA’s all-time wins record.
So yes, Mitch Johnson is the head coach. But when Pop is in the film room, the room changes. The jokes get drier. The pauses get heavier. The missed rotations suddenly feel like moral failures. Somewhere, a young Spur probably learned that “pretty good possession” is not a legal phrase in the Popovich language.
For Victor Wembanyama and this young Spurs team, that presence is valuable. Game 1 was strange: Wembanyama set a playoff record with 12 blocks, but San Antonio still lost. That is exactly the kind of night Popovich exists to dissect, not just what happened, but why winning slipped through the details.
Pop is not on the sideline anymore. But in San Antonio, the old professor still has a red pen.
