Tim Duncan's appointment as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich was mostly Duncan's idea, league sources told Marc Stein of the New York Times.

Stein adds that Duncan knew Popovich was struggling to hire the last position on the Spurs' staff.

Manu Ginobili was also approached about an assistant coaching role, though he was not ready to go back into basketball after retiring at the end of the 2018 season.