Skip to main content

San Antonio Spurs Star Victor Wembanyama Praises Gregg Popovich After Debut

Gregg Popovich is one of the greatest coaches in NBA history, and part of that is knowing how much of the reins to give his players, and Victor Wembanyama is reaping the benefits.

Victor Wembanyama's first chance to be coached by Gregg Popovich is now in the books, and it absolutely did not disappoint. 

The San Antonio Spurs took on the Oklahoma City Thunder in what ended in a one point loss for the Spurs, but the game was hard fought to the very end.

As far as all-time prospects go, Wembanyama is right near the top of the list, but without a good coach, there's only so much one player can do. But Wemby got about the luckiest you can get as far as your first coach, as he ended up with one of the greats.

Popovich has coached some of the best players of the past couple decades, with just a few being David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and Kawhi Leonard, among others. One of the things that Coach Pop loves to do is letting his star players go to work, and Wemby talked more about this in his post-game interview.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich's coaching style could be a big catalyst this season

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich's coaching style could be a big catalyst this season

"A big part of the role of a coach is to know when to give freedom to the players," Wembanyama said. "We have great creators and great players on our team, and Pop gives them the right amount of advice, and he lets them be creative."

This style of coaching has been a big factor in Popovich tallying the most wins by a coach in NBA history. With Wembanyama being as big of a threat as he is, letting him be creative and go to work will most likely lead to a lot more wins this season.

Coach Popovich and the Spurs will get their next chance to show their creativeness on Friday against the reigning Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.