{"id":109229,"date":"2025-06-19T08:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/109229\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T08:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:15:10","slug":"dejounte-murray-on-gregg-popovichs-gesture-that-showed-his-love-for-him-he-tried-to-move-my-mom-to-san-antonio-with-his-own-money-after-she-got-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/109229\/","title":{"rendered":"Dejounte Murray on Gregg Popovich’s gesture that showed his love for him: “He tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dejounte Murray on Gregg Popovich’s gesture that showed his love for him: “He tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot”<\/a> originally appeared on Basketball Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs icon Gregg Popovich<\/a> is a rare figure in basketball history who never focused solely on on-court growth. While his success is undeniable, countless stories show how the three-time Coach of the Year prepared his players for life off the court.<\/p>\n

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Few know this better than Dejounte Murray. Recently, the New Orleans Pelicans’<\/a> floor general revealed how Popovich’s influence went beyond basketball, guiding his personal growth and maturity during their time together.<\/p>\n

“That was a man who cared about me, a man who wanted me to reach my full potential in life first and then as a basketball player,” said<\/a> Murray during his appearence on “The Pivot Podcast.”<\/p>\n

Popovich shaped a kid from South Seattle<\/p>\n

Born in 1996, Murray<\/a> grew up in Seattle’s toughest neighborhoods, facing challenges few can imagine. As reported in-depth, by age 11, he was already active in the streets<\/a> before basketball became his way out \u2014 starting at Rainier Beach, continuing at the University of Washington, and eventually leading him to the Spurs in the 2016 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

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During the podcast, Murray, a former No. 29 overall pick by San Antonio, recalled how overwhelming the leap was. After all, he was just a kid from the south of Seattle with no clue about the corporate or business side of pro basketball.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Popovich, who led the Spurs<\/a> from the 1996\u201397 season through the start of the 2024\u201325 season and guided a lot of players during that time, was there to lead him.<\/p>\n

As Murray recalled, his former head coach taught him not only professionalism and work ethic but also how to carry himself as a man. One key lesson, Dejounte said, was learning respect for others.<\/p>\n

“You treat people like an a**hole; you’re an a**hole. You treat people good, I mean, you’re a good person,” Murray explained.<\/p>\n

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Related: “I can’t get so close to it, too, because of my competitive nature” – Michael Jordan on why he can’t get himself to be a fan of any one player in the NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the game<\/p>\n

Coach Pop provided even greater support for Murray during his time in Texas from 2016 to 2022.<\/p>\n

The Seattle native recalled how, amid personal losses and hardships, his coach became a literal shoulder to cry on.<\/p>\n

Popovich also grew into a father figure for Murray \u2014 not only because his biological dad was largely absent, but because the now president of basketball operations led through actions, not words.<\/p>\n

Murray said there are countless examples, but the most notable happened during his rookie season in 2016-17.<\/a><\/p>\n

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That year, his mother \u2014 who had a troubled past, including multiple incarcerations \u2014 was shot in the leg. Upon hearing the news, Popovich immediately reached out. While advising his player to avoid old environments, the coach wanted the same for his mom, offering to move her to San Antonio and even volunteering to cover the costs himself.<\/p>\n

“He’s (Popovich) so real he tried to move my mom to San Antonio with his own money after she got shot\u2026he called her himself without me knowing until after the fact\u2026that sounds like a dude who cares about me and loves me, right?” Murray said.<\/p>\n

For him, those actions went beyond basketball. He said Pop showed care not only to him but to countless other players \u2014 through honest talks, simple gestures, even hugs \u2014 understanding how much mental stability matters. Ultimately, Murray felt Popovich truly cared and loved him with his actions, not his words.<\/p>\n

Related: “I was going to Wabash College; I wanted to be a doctor” – Young Gregg Popovich had no plans of going to the NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network<\/a> on Jun 19, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dejounte Murray on Gregg Popovich’s gesture that showed his love for him: “He tried to move my mom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,2878,3349,6,470,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-109229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dejounte-murray","10":"tag-gregg-popovich","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","15":"tag-sanantonio","16":"tag-sanantoniospurs","17":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114709038657851892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}