Mitch Johnson took over the Spurs in late April last year and has them back in the Western Conference finals in his first season, but the climb he helped rebuild now runs straight into danger. San Antonio hosts the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in a win-or-go-home Game 6 after falling behind 3-2.
Johnson, 39, became the 19th head coach in Spurs history after Gregg Popovich was told in the room that the longtime coach’s successor had been chosen. It was an emotional handoff, Brian Wright said, because Johnson had built a strong bond with Popovich while working on his staff and because everyone in the room knew what the move meant for a franchise trying to move from transition back to contention.
The reason his name is drawing attention now is simple: Johnson has pushed the Spurs into the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2017. He did it with a 62-20 regular-season record in his first year on the job and with a roster built around Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. The Spurs also did something they had not done since 1998 — return to the postseason after missing the NBA playoffs from 2019-25.
That run has not made the finish line any easier. San Antonio lost 127-114 to the Thunder in Game 5 on Tuesday and now needs to win at home to keep the season going. Johnson did not dress up the task after the loss, saying the Spurs will need to be a lot better to beat a team of this caliber on its own floor with the stakes this high.
The backdrop makes the moment heavier. Popovich guided San Antonio to five NBA championships and remains the only coach in franchise history to take the Spurs to the Finals, so Johnson is operating under the shadow of the standard he inherited. Wright said Johnson has done a phenomenal job leading the team back to relevance and title contention and called him a finalist for 2026 NBA Coach of the Year.
That is the contradiction at the center of this first season: a first-time head coach has already taken the Spurs farther than they have been in years, yet the next 48 minutes could end everything. If Johnson’s team survives tonight in San Antonio, the rise feels real. If it does not, this will still be remembered as the season he brought the Spurs back into the conversation — just not the one that finished the job.
Related: Mitch Johnson Spurs carry postseason surge into win-or-go-home Game 6.
