The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are a member of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise was founded as the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967. [1] The team suffered from poor attendance and general disinterest by fans in Dallas, and the name "Dallas" was dropped in favor of "Texas" during the 1970–71 season in an attempt to make the team regional. This also proved to be a failure, and the team returned full-time to use "Dallas" for the 1971–72 season. [2] The team was put up for sale after missing the playoffs in the 1972–73 season. [1] [2] The team was acquired by a group of 36 San Antonio businessmen, led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs, who relocated the team to San Antonio, Texas and renamed it to Spurs. [1] [2] In 1976, the ABA folded, threatening the future of San Antonio's sole professional sports franchise. [1] The NBA, however, decided to admit four ABA teams into the league, including the Spurs, along with the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers and the New York Nets. [1]
There have been 18 head coaches for the San Antonio Spurs. The franchise won their first NBA championship in the 1999 NBA Finals coached by Gregg Popovich. [1] The Spurs won four additional NBA championships in 2003 NBA Finals, 2005 NBA Finals, 2007 NBA Finals and 2014 NBA Finals under Popovich. [1] Popovich is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. [3] He also won the NBA Coach of the Year award for 2002–03 season. [4] Larry Brown is the only member of the franchise that has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. [5] Bob Bass, who has coached with the Spurs for four terms, leads the franchise in most terms coached. [6] Cliff Hagan, Max Williams, Bill Blakeley, Dave Brown, Morris McHone, Jerry Tarkanian and Popovich spent their entire coaching careers with the Spurs. [3] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
GC | Games coached |
W | Wins |
L | Losses |
Win% | Winning percentage |
# | Number of coaches [a] |
* | Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Spurs |
† | Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach |
*† | Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Spurs |
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023–24 season.
# | Name | Term [b] | GC | W | L | Win% | GC | W | L | Win% | Achievements | Reference | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||
Dallas/Texas Chaparrals | |||||||||||||||
1 | Cliff Hagan * | 1967–1970 | 199 | 109 | 90 | .548 | 15 | 7 | 8 | .467 | [7] | ||||
2 | Max Williams * | 1970 | 60 | 28 | 32 | .467 | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | [8] | ||||
3 | Bill Blakeley * | 1970–1971 | 65 | 25 | 40 | .385 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [9] | ||||
4 | Tom Nissalke | 1971–1972 | 84 | 42 | 42 | .500 | 4 | 0 | 4 | .000 | [13] | ||||
5 | Babe McCarthy | 1972–1973 | 72 | 24 | 48 | .333 | — | — | — | — | [14] | ||||
6 | Dave Brown * | 1973 | 12 | 4 | 8 | .333 | — | — | — | — | [10] | ||||
San Antonio Spurs | |||||||||||||||
— | Tom Nissalke | 1973–1974 | 112 | 63 | 49 | .563 | 7 | 3 | 4 | .428 | [13] | ||||
7 | Bob Bass | 1974–1976 | 140 | 83 | 57 | .593 | 13 | 5 | 8 | .385 | [6] | ||||
8 | Doug Moe | 1976–1980 | 312 | 177 | 135 | .567 | 22 | 9 | 13 | .409 | [15] | ||||
— | Bob Bass | 1980 | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | [6] | ||||
9 | Stan Albeck | 1980–1983 | 246 | 153 | 93 | .622 | 27 | 13 | 14 | .481 | [16] | ||||
10 | Morris McHone * | 1983 | 31 | 11 | 20 | .355 | — | — | — | — | [11] | ||||
— | Bob Bass | 1983–1984 | 51 | 26 | 25 | .510 | — | — | — | — | [6] | ||||
11 | Cotton Fitzsimmons | 1984–1986 | 164 | 76 | 88 | .463 | 8 | 2 | 6 | .250 | [17] | ||||
12 | Bob Weiss | 1986–1988 | 164 | 59 | 105 | .360 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | [18] | ||||
13 | Larry Brown † | 1988–1992 | 284 | 153 | 131 | .539 | 14 | 7 | 7 | .500 | [5] | ||||
— | Bob Bass | 1992 | 44 | 26 | 18 | .591 | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | [6] | ||||
14 | Jerry Tarkanian *† | 1992 | 20 | 9 | 11 | .450 | — | — | — | — | [12] | ||||
15 | Rex Hughes | 1992 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | — | — | — | — | [19] | ||||
16 | John Lucas II | 1992–1994 | 143 | 94 | 49 | .657 | 14 | 6 | 8 | .428 | [20] | ||||
17 | Bob Hill | 1994–1996 | 182 | 124 | 58 | .681 | 25 | 14 | 11 | .560 | [21] | ||||
18 | Gregg Popovich *† | 1996–present | 2,209 | 1,388 | 821 | .628 | 284 | 170 | 114 | .599 | 2002–03, 2011–12, 2013–14 NBA Coach of the Year [4] 5 championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014) | [3] |
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
The Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). The team moved to San Antonio, Texas, for the 1973–74 season and were renamed the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the 1976–77 NBA season as a result of being one of four chosen ABA teams to be absorbed by the elder league following the completion of the ABA–NBA merger.
The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships from 1956 to 1966. The winner is selected at the end of the regular season by a panel of sportswriters from the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The person with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
George Gervin, nicknamed "the Iceman", is an American former professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago Bulls. Gervin averaged at least 14 points per game in all 14 of his ABA and NBA seasons, and finished with an NBA career average of 26.2 points per game. Widely regarded as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA history, in 1996 Gervin was named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, and in 2021, Gervin was named as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history.
Gregg Charles Popovich is an American professional basketball coach and executive who is the president and head coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Popovich has been a member of the Spurs organization since 1994, as president of basketball operations and general manager before taking over as coach of the Spurs in 1996. Popovich is the longest tenured active coach in the NBA as well as all other major sports leagues in the United States. Nicknamed "Coach Pop", Popovich has the most wins of any coach in NBA history, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.
Ronald Bruce Boone is an American former professional basketball player. He had a 13-year career in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Boone set a record for most consecutive games played in professional basketball history with 1,041 and claims to have never missed a game from when he started playing basketball in the fourth grade until his retirement. Boone is the current color commentator on Utah Jazz broadcasts.
Charles Stanley Albeck was an American professional basketball coach. Albeck coached for several teams in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), including the Denver Rockets, the San Diego Conquistadors,, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Jersey Nets, and the Chicago Bulls.
Alvin Harris Gentry is an American professional basketball executive for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A former basketball player and coach, Gentry has served as the head coach of six NBA teams. He served as an interim head coach for the Miami Heat at the end of the 1994–95 season, and later coached the Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans and Kings. He currently serves as the vice president of basketball engagement for the Kings.
Robert Netolicky is a retired American basketball player. A 6'9" power forward/center, he played professionally in the now–defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. Netolicky was a four–time ABA All–Star and two–time ABA Champion.
James Edward Silas is a retired American professional basketball player, who played the point guard position. Born in Tallulah, Louisiana, Silas played the majority of his career with the Dallas Chaparrals/San Antonio Spurs of the ABA/NBA. His nicknames include "the Snake", "Captain Late" and "the Late Mr. Silas", the latter two referring to the fact that Silas seemed to play his best late in games.
The ABA All-Time Team were chosen in 1997 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the American Basketball Association (ABA). It comprised the 30 best and most influential players of the ABA during its ten years and nine full regular seasons of operation, with respect not only to performance at the professional level but in consideration of sportsmanship, team leadership, and contributions to the growth of the league basketball, and irrespective of positions played. Only players to have played at least a portion of their careers in the ABA were eligible for selection, although performance in other leagues, most notably the National Basketball Association was ostensibly considered. Selected and announced beside the all-time team were a most valuable player and top head coach.
The 2002–03 NBA season was the 36th season of the franchise, 30th in San Antonio, and 27th in the National Basketball Association. This was also the Spurs' first season playing at the SBC Center. During the off-season, the team signed free agents Kevin Willis, acquired second-year guard Speedy Claxton from the Philadelphia 76ers, and re-acquired former Spurs guard and three-point specialist Steve Kerr from the Portland Trail Blazers. Argentinian future star Manu Ginóbili, who was drafted by the team in 1999, would make his debut for his first NBA season. This would also be the fourteenth and final season for former All-Star center, and long-time Spurs star David Robinson. The Spurs played strong basketball, posting a nine-game winning streak at midseason, holding a 33–16 record at the All-Star break, then winning eleven straight games near the end of the season. The Spurs would win 60 games for only the second time in franchise history, finishing with a league-best 60–22 record.
Brett William Brown is an American professional basketball coach who is an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Brown is a former college basketball player who previously served as head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers from 2013 to 2020. Before that, Brown was an assistant on Gregg Popovich's staff on the Spurs. He also has extensive experience coaching in Australia, having been the head coach of the North Melbourne Giants and Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL).