The San Antonio Spurs franchise would not be the same without Gregg Popovich. Over his 28 years as the Spurs‘ head coach, Popovich helped transform the franchise into the NBA‘s model organization. He led San Antonio to five NBA championships between 1999 and 2014 — and with talented young players like Victor Wembanyama starting to make their mark, it’s not unreasonable to think that another Spurs “golden era” is on the horizon.

But Popovich may not be on the sideline when the Spurs begin another contention cycle. “Pop” is recovering from a serious, unidentified health issue, and it is unknown when the NBA’s all-time coaching wins leader will return to the bench this season — if at all.

How have the Spurs coped in Popovich’s absence?

In Popovich’s absence, the Spurs have elevated assistant Mitch Johnson to the top job on an interim basis. Johnson, 39, has been on Popovich’s staff since 2019 and is regarded as one of the NBA’s top assistant coaches.

However, Johnson can not and will not do the job alone. Johnson has said it will be a group effort as long as Popovich is gone — the 75-year-old last took charge of a Halloween night victory over the Jazz in Utah.

The Spurs have since lost two out of three games, including a 127-100 humbling in Houston against the Rockets on Wednesday night. Johnson and the rest of the coaching staff are sticking to the Popovich playbook as closely as they can while continuing the work of developing Wembanyama and San Antonio’s other young players into playoff-ready performers down the line.

“We have a great staff and people that all have voices and that Pop empowers to coach and to coach hard and to lead,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Obviously there are big shoes to fill, and we’re going to do it as a group.”