{"id":12134,"date":"2025-05-06T02:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T02:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/12134\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T02:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T02:02:12","slug":"the-la-lakers-legend-who-gregg-popovich-wished-he-could-have-coached-during-his-incredible-career-the-ultimate-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/12134\/","title":{"rendered":"The LA Lakers legend who Gregg Popovich wished he could have coached during his incredible career, the ultimate honor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Basketball coaching legend Gregg Popovich has moved into a new phase of his career.<\/p>\n

After being forced to sit out the 2024-25 season due to health reasons, Gregg Popovich<\/a> has stepped aside as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mitchell Johnson has taken over<\/a> on a permanent basis, amid a mass of tributes for Popovich led by former player Kawhi Leonard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Popovich had the privilege to coach several of the NBA\u2019s greatest players of his era, the likes of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and David Robinson.<\/p>\n

If there is one regret he holds, it\u2019s that he did not get the chance to coach a player who was drafted into the NBA in 1996, the year Popovich began coaching the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Maxx Wolfson\/Getty ImagesGregg Popovich admired Kobe Bryant<\/p>\n

Amid his love for the game of basketball, Gregg Popovich could only admire from afar the incredible impact Kobe Bryant<\/a> had on the NBA.<\/p>\n

The five-times NBA champion powered a Lakers three-peat between 2000 and 2002<\/a>, that came sandwiched between Popovich\u2019s Spurs winning titles either side in 1999 and 2003.<\/p>\n

Speaking in 2017, when Kobe Bryant was honored by the LA Lakers<\/a> in a double jersey retirement<\/a> ceremony, Popovich spoke of his regret that he did not have the opportunity to coach the legendary player.<\/p>\n

Quoted via Brad Turner of the LA Times, Popovich said at the time: \u201cKobe is one of those guys that every coach in the world says, \u2018That would have been great to have an opportunity to coach that guy.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the best thing I can say about him. It says everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Kobe Bryant having jersey No. 8, 24 retired: “\u201cKobe is one of those guys that every coach in the world says, \u2018That would have been great to have an opportunity to coach that guy.\u2019 That\u2019s the best thing I can say about him. It says everything.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) December 19, 2017<\/a> <\/p>\n

View Tweet<\/p>\n

Popovich did briefly have an opportunity to coach Kobe Bryant a year earlier during NBA All-Star weekend, revealing his lasting impression.<\/p>\n

He told ESPN<\/a>: \u201cWhat really stood out was the respect that all the players had for him. We\u2019re practicing, we\u2019re fooling around, having a good time, and all of a sudden they started playing a video up there of Kobe highlights. And one by one, the players just stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

2016 saw Kobe Bryant see out his farewell tour, and Popovich admitted he could not help but be caught up in the moment when coaching against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we won the game in the last minute or 10 seconds or whatever it was. But he was taking the game over, and I was having fun watching him, kind of like the way you would do with Michael [Jordan] when he played. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you weren\u2019t careful, you stopped coaching, and you just started watching because they\u2019re so incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregg Popovich\u2019s tribute to Kobe Bryant<\/p>\n

The world was stunned and heartbroken at the sudden death of Kobe Bryant in 2020 in a helicopter crash that also claimed the life of his daughter.<\/p>\n

Coach Popovich among the NBA coaches who led the tributes to the legendary Laker, who he had spent the best part of 20 years doing battle with.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cAll of us know what a great player he was, but he went beyond great playing. He was a competitor that goes unmatched and it\u2019s what made him, as a player, so attractive to everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat focus, that competitiveness, that will to win. More importantly, we all feel a deep sense of loss for what he meant to all of us in so many ways. And so many millions of people loved him for so many different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n