Popovich taken to hospital after fainting at local San Antonio restaurant

TMZ has just reported that San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was taken to the hospital on a stretcher after fainting at a local restaurant on Tuesday, April 15. According to TMZ, Coach Pop was alert enough to speak by the time he made it to the emergency vehicle, and he was taken in under non-life-threatening circumstances.

Popovich suffered a mild stroke at the beginning of November 2024 that sidelined him for the season. TMZ is reporting that he may still be suffering the effects of that stroke. The San Antonio Spurs have not confirmed this story to be true, but that's common practice for the organization.

They're patient and private, but TMZ has made their report anyway after they claim to have made three attempts to get a statement from the organization.

Coach Pop is home recovering

As I'm writing this, Shams Charania has just given us an update, and Coach Pop is "now home, stable and doing fine." It's great news to hear, but the development is still very concerning.

All reports have indicated that he still wants to coach, so something like this must be considered a setback if you're trying to resume a normal life. He'll want to be able to do the things he would normally do without any complications, and if he has to worry about fainting spells, that's a scary thought.

Hopefully, it's just a minor setback. The relationship San Antonio has with Popovich is a special one. This city wants nothing but the best for his health.

Coach Popovich is the greatest coach of all time

Gregg Popovich is a five-time champion and has won championships in three different decades (1990-2014). (He was en route to his sixth when Zaza Pachulia happened to Kawhi Leonard in 2017) He's the winningest coach in NBA history.

San Antonio made the playoffs for 22 straight seasons under Pop's stewardship. The Spurs play in the Western Conference, which has been the tougher of the two sides for decades. They not only made the playoffs year in and year out, but they also dominated their seasons, winning more than 50 games every year of the Tim Duncan era, except for the season shortened due to the lockout.

The aspect of Coach Pop's career that doesn't get talked about enough is what Kawhi's demand to leave did to his trajectory. Maybe there would have been some down years due to Leonard's deteriorating health anyway, but the team was forced to tear everything down to rebuild when the Klaw demanded out. Otherwise, he may have never missed the playoffs.

Now that Victor Wembanyama is here and the other young guys are growing into real NBA players, they're ready to start a new streak. Hopefully, Popovich will be healthy enough to lead them through those gates.