Gregg Popovich recently announced his retirement from coaching after he had been the San Antonio Spurs‘ head coach since the 1996-97 season. He guided the organization to five NBA championships despite a constant state of roster evolution, and he was the longest-tenured coach in the league.

Popovich suffered a stroke earlier this season, which forced him to step away. On a recent episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast, LeBron James paid his respects to Popovich, who is one of basketball’s greatest coaches ever.

“There’s no way we even start this conversation without talking about Pop and what he means for the game and obviously for the NBA, San Antonio, West Point, all the stops that he had. To be able to cross paths — we’ve crossed paths with Coach Pop so many times and I had one opportunity to actually play for him in the Olympics in 2004. And obviously going against him three times in the NBA Finals. What can you say? You talk about the superlatives when it comes to Coach Pop, his list is out of this world. But I think what a lot of people have found out if you ever got an opportunity to encounter a one-on-one with him or even just in crossing, how great of a [expletive] guy that guy is. And it makes sense with how unbelievable of a coach he was because of the person he was.”

James’ teams played against Popovich’s Spurs in the NBA Finals three times, with the Spurs emerging victorious in two of those series. The superstar also played for Popovich when Popovich was an assistant to head coach Larry Brown for Team USA men’s basketball during the 2004 Olympics.

“It was just the admiration. For me, I was just an 18-year-old kid and I got an opportunity to see it when they won a championship in ’99 and then when they won it again I believe in 2003. So I already had admiration for Pop and his San Antonio teams. I was on the team, I was a young guy alongside Carmelo Anthony, we were young guys, Dwyane Wade, we were super young and to be a part of that team, obviously we didn’t succeed like we wanted to succeed. But to be on a team with like Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan and Coach Pop, Larry Brown, that was just like another welcome to what greatness is all about. To see what Coach Pop has left this game as far as controlling the sidelines for as long as he did and the amount of wins that you just mentioned, the amount of championships, great players that he’s seen come through the San Antonio franchise. It’s just been a complete honor and for me to have a real personal relationship with him that every time I see him, it’s just so much respect and so much honor. He definitely will be missed… Obviously we know health is most important, but we cannot shy away from the fact of what he was able to accomplish on the sidelines.”

Mitch Johnson, who had been a Spurs assistant since the 2019-20 season, will now be the team’s head coach moving forward. He filled in for Popovich starting in early November after the latter suffered a stroke, and he will now have a very promising team that includes star guard De’Aaron Fox, Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle and, of course, 21-year-old superstar center Victor Wembanyama.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James pays his respects to retiring head coach Gregg Popovich