Gregg Popovich jokes about why he made Tim Duncan his assistant

Gregg Popovich seems pretty excited about Tim Duncan joining his staff as an assistant. The San Antonio Spurs coach is also very eager to joke about it.

At the first day of USA Basketball practice, Popovich spoke briefly about Duncan’s decision to join the staff, joking that the Spurs icon couldn’t coach at all and Popovich is simply paying him back for carrying him for nearly two decades.

USA Basketball coach Gregg Popovich on his new Spurs assistant: “Tim Duncan doesn’t know a lick about coaching. I don’t even know why I hired him. He’s given me a paycheck for 19 years so I was kind of obliged to pay him back.” pic.twitter.com/LuveXVynob

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) August 5, 2019

Popovich made a similar joke when announcing the hire, and he’ll probably have more to come. The Spurs coach certainly seems very excited to have Duncan involved again, and the jokes are clearly coming from a place of deep affection.