SAN ANTONIO — Legendary former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went into San Antonio’s locker room immediately after their Game 3 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder to deliver some choice words about their performance.
The speech, first relayed by De’Aaron Fox on NBC’s postgame show Sunday and confirmed to The Athletic by multiple Spurs players, helped inspire San Antonio’s 103-82 Game 4 victory.
“Pop’s been around throughout the course of the season, but that was the first time he walked into the locker room and was like, ‘Nah, that’s BS, that’s not how we play basketball,’” Fox said in response to a question by NBC panelist Tracy McGrady. “That was the first time all season that he came into the locker room right after a game and told us how he felt.”
Fox said the entire team and coaching staff listened, as well as general manager Brian Wright.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that,” Fox told NBC. “Trainers, everybody’s in there. We close the doors, we don’t let anybody know what’s going on in here. … We open that door, we see Pop come in, and it’s like, ‘Awwww.’”
Spurs rookie forward Carter Bryant said Popovich’s message was simple: Be better.
“Nothing more, nothing less,” Bryant told The Athletic. “I mean, it’s a direct message, and the best thing when you’re in a situation like this is a direct message. So to us, we had to be better, we came out executing and we saw the outcome (in Game 4).”
The 77-year-old Popovich, who officially retired from coaching last summer after suffering a stroke at the beginning of the 2024-25 season but retains the title of President of Basketball Operations, has been a key figure behind the scenes all season, as The Athletic reported. The man unofficially known as El Jefe is often seen consulting with players after practices, though he has become more involved throughout this postseason run.
“He gives feedback and talks to us regularly throughout our series, throughout our games,” Victor Wembanyama said earlier in the playoffs. “As always, when he speaks, everybody listens.”
Current head coach Mitch Johnson took over on an interim basis last season before landing the job permanently last summer. Johnson has been a member of the Spurs’ organization since 2016 and was one of Popovich’s assistants from 2019 to 2024.
The Spurs were not happy with their Game 3 performance. After scoring the first 15 points of the game, San Antonio sputtered, eventually falling 123-108.
“Just from a mentality wise, I think that was one of the worst games that we had of the season, outside of the first four or five minutes of the game,” Fox told reporters in his news conference. “Pop came in after the game; it was actually the first time that he came into the locker room and spoke after a game. So he saw it. We all saw it. We all felt it.”
Game 4 was a different story. Now, this series is tied heading back to Oklahoma City for Tuesday’s Game 5.
