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San Antonio Spurs asked Manu Ginobili to join Tim Duncan as coach

By Andrew Ites

SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 28: Retired San Antonio Spurs Player Manu Ginobili is honored during his Jersey Retirement Ceremony alongside his son after the game between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers on March 28, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 28: Retired San Antonio Spurs Player Manu Ginobili is honored during his Jersey Retirement Ceremony alongside his son after the game between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers on March 28, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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San Antonio Spurs fans were elated to hear that Tim Duncan would return to the Silver and Black as an assistant coach, but Gregg Popovich almost convinced another legend to join his staff as well.

The San Antonio Spurs needed to reload their coaching staff this summer as they have during many offseasons in the Gregg Popovich era after some of his top assistants were taken away to other jobs.

With Ime Udoka and Ettore Messina taking jobs elsewhere this offseason, the Spurs had a couple of openings next to Pop on the Spurs’ bench.

They filled the first job by promoting Will Hardy, but the blockbuster move of the summer was hiring Tim Duncan as an assistant after he had spent the first couple of years of retirement working with the Spurs in a behind-the-scenes role.

According to the New York Times’ Marc Stein, San Antonio also talked to a recently-retired Manu Ginobili about taking an assistant coaching position with the Spurs.

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Unfortunately, Stein reports that Manu was “apparently not quite ready to dive back in” to basketball after only being retired for one year.

Reuniting Manu and Tim on the Spurs’ coaching staff would’ve breathed a ton of new life into the franchise after the era of the Big Three ended with Duncan’s retirement in 2016 and was finalized this summer with the retirement of Tony Parker.

However, Stein’s report doesn’t rule out the possibility of Ginobili joining the coaching staff sometime in the future.

Duncan had been retired for three years before deciding to “dive back in” as an assistant coach, so it’s possible that Manu would get a similar itch to return after a couple of years in retirement.

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Next. Five players Tim Duncan will mentor as assistant coach

For now, Spurs fans can simply be happy that one of the legendary Big Three will be back on San Antonio’s sidelines while also holding out hope that another one of their all-time greats could return in the near future.