As the San Antonio Spurs lean into a rebuild, legendary point guard Tony Parker is surprised that Gregg Popovich is still on board.
"I always joke with him: The hell are you doing? You should travel the world. Enjoy it," Parker told Insider, while promoting his partnership with French winemaker Michel Reybier's wine brands. "Especially him: He loves the world, he loves traveling. And because of that, I'm very surprised that he's still doing what he's doing.
"I don't know the purpose of it, you know what I mean? To be with all those young guys — but I'm like, I guess he's super passionate."
There had been a belief in the NBA world that Popovich would retire after coaching the US men's basketball team at the Tokyo Olympics and winning a gold medal. Though Popovich has since relinquished his USA Basketball head-coaching duties, he has stayed on board in San Antonio.
Parker told Insider that Popovich has responded to him by saying he has plenty of time to see the world.
Parker spent 17 seasons with the Spurs, all under Popovich, and had his number retired by the team in 2019.
After two decades of championships and playoff runs, the Spurs leaned fully into a rebuild this off-season by trading away All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. The roster now consists of lots of young players and role players who are more likely to help San Antonio fight for the No. 1 pick in next year's draft than to make the playoffs.
Popovich, 74, admitted at the start of training camp that this year's Spurs won't be very good.
"Nobody here should go to Vegas with the thought of betting on us to win the championship," Popovich joked to reporters. He later said the "point" of the season was to help develop young players.
Parker is not surprised that the Spurs have leaned into a rebuild, saying the team knew it was time to find a new franchise player.
That player could very well be Victor Wembanyama, the French big man who's projected to be the No. 1 pick in next year's draft and potentially a future superstar. Parker is familiar with Wembanyama, as the 19-year-old played professionally for Parker's ASVEL club in Lyon.
Parker also said he'd be interested in joining the Spurs in a front office capacity, especially if Wembanyama landed there.
"Why not? I will always be connected to the Spurs, with Coach Pop and [CEO] R.C. [Buford]," Parker said. "They can always call me and because I own my team, we still do stuff together.
"But yeah, why not? I always think like one day, I'll take the NBA challenge. Not to coach. I prefer the front office. One day I'll come back and do this. But right now I feel like I have a lot of stuff to do in my country."
