{"id":713443,"date":"2026-06-03T22:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/713443\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:04:10","slug":"wemby-talks-gregg-popovichs-influence-on-spurs-nba-finals-run-and-more-ahead-of-game-1-vs-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/713443\/","title":{"rendered":"Wemby Talks Gregg Popovich’s Influence on Spurs, NBA Finals Run and More Ahead of Game 1 vs. Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victor Wembanyama discussed legendary former head coach Gregg Popovich’s impact on the San Antonio Spurs as the team prepares to face the New York Knicks in the 2026 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

“He’s talked to us through every game of every series and he’s been our guiding force through losses and wins,” Wembanyama said in an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews (1:02 mark).<\/p>\n

Popovich has contributed to San Antonio’s playoff run in multiple ways, addressing the roster<\/a> prior to a first-round series matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers and joining the team for a film session after a Game 1 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round.<\/p>\n

Popovich spent 29 seasons as head coach of the Spurs, helping the team capture five championships and becoming the NBA’s all-time leader<\/a>\u00a0in coaching wins.<\/p>\n

He took a leave of absence from the team after suffering a stroke in Nov. 2024. In May 2025, Popovich\u00a0transitioned<\/a>\u00a0to a full-time role as San Antonio’s president of basketball operations and has remained in the position ever since. <\/p>\n

As for Wembanyama, the 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year has excelled on both ends of the floor during the Spurs’ current postseason run. <\/p>\n

He’s averaging 23.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 51.0 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from three-point territory in 17 playoff appearances. <\/p>\n

Wembanyama is now gearing up for Game 1 against the Knicks, which starts on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama discussed legendary former head coach Gregg Popovich’s impact on the San Antonio Spurs as the team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-713443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}