Open Thread: DeMar DeRozan shared a heart-warming story about Popovich

The Spurs coach is always there for his players

This past week, DeMar DeRozan shared a story on episode of the 25/10 Show podcast hosted by former NFL wide receiver DeSean Jackson and two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean “Shady” McCoy relaying how Gregg Popovich came to him when his father died.

About an hour into the show, McCoy asked DeRozan about being coached by Pop.

The story speaks for itself.

“Like I’ve never told nobly this story. My pops had passed when I was playing in San Antonio. I had called the GM like ‘Yo bro, I’m about to fly home tonight. I’m about to try to get a plane out of here. I got to get home. My pops just passed.’ I called the GM. I didn’t want nobody to know. I didn’t want it to be all in the media. Bro, literally, Bro, 90 seconds later I hear a knock at the door. Bro, Pop sat in that room with me and cried with me for about two hours. You know what I mean? He’s like, ‘I’m not leaving until you leave, and that just showed, like, the person who he was —you know what I mean?— he sat there and cried with me, Bro. And what’s cray, he’ll be mad at me telling that story. Cause he never want nobody, he don’t want credit.”

Does this surprise you at all? Or simply reinforce the aspect of Popovich’s innate personality build relationships with his players beyond basketball that endears him to his players, the franchise, and the city of San Antonio?

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