There's only one person who can derail the Spurs' success next season

Coach Gregg Popovich is officially no longer the leader of the San Antonio Spurs. The announcement was made a long time ago now, but it still feels surreal to type or say out loud. It's a new day, and it brings uncertainty to an area fans never had to worry about before. Coach Pop is, at the very least, one of the greatest coaches to ever lead an NBA franchise.

Whether you have him number one or somewhere in the top three to five, doesn't really matter, but I won't hear about anything lower than that. Those are huge shoes to fill, but that's what Mitch Johnson is tasked with. The experience he gained last season will benefit him tremendously, so he'll need to lean on the things he learned during such a trying time to navigate the season with a newly reaffirmed role.

Coach Johnson has everything he needs

The reason Pop kept winning from decade to decade through different iterations of the team was because he kept evolving. Johnson did fairly well under the circumstances he was forced to deal with, but when the calendar flipped to 2025, the team didn't just stumble; they fell, passed out, and didn't come to until the year was over.

Okay, that was a little dramatic, but January's struggles were pretty intense, and the Victor Wembanyama blood clot was announced shortly afterward. De'Aaron Fox was sat for the rest of the season, less than a month later, and an odd year got tougher for the guys. But there's reason to be optimistic about San Antonio's new play caller.

The Spurs played like a top 10 defense over a few different stretches early in the year, and they performed like a top offense for a spell in the latter part of the season. That's with guys in and out of the lineup all season, and the understanding that it wasn't fully his team. He was the substitute teacher, and when you don't have complete control of the reins, it's easy to second-guess yourself.

"Am I doing this right? What would Pop do?" He was thrust into a role that comes with immense pressure under the worst circumstances. Now things have settled with Coach Pop now taking on the role as El Jefe in the front office. Johnson has the complete trust of the players and the organization, or they wouldn't have given him a fat extension.

He has ball handlers, shooters, inside presence, defensive guys, and a couple of stars at his disposal. Now he just needs to put it all together. The pieces are there for him to do so, and put his stamp on the organization in a major way in his first real season as the head coach of a possibly up-and-coming dynasty.