Mitch Johnson has been serving as interim head coach of the San Antonio Spurs since Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke in early November. Johnson played collegiately at Stanford and has come up through the Spurs' system as a coach. Johnson has a strong reputation in coaching circles and interviewed for the head coaching job with the Toronto Raptors in 2023.

"Seeing him in the position he's in now is not a shock. He belongs there," Brook Lopez, a former teammate of Johnson's at Stanford, told ESPN.

"Such an intelligent basketball player, the highest basketball IQ I've ever played with or been around," Lopez said. "He sees the game differently. We actually called him "maestro" because of the way he conducts and runs the show."