THE DRIVE FROM Keldon Johnson's ranch in Boerne, Texas, to the Frost Bank Center used to be predictable. Thirty minutes on the weekends, 45 during the week. But these days he has to leave early to account for the construction on seemingly every major highway in the area.

Everything about the city and the San Antonio Spurs feels like it's growing -- bursting with new energy and residents who've come here to fill in all the wide open space that used to define this part of Texas.

Even before the Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama, No. 1 overall in 2023, that energy was inspiring to coach Gregg Popovich. "What's most enjoyable is they are like young, clean slates. You start at the bottom and teach," he said in 2022, after years of leading a veteran-laden team.

Johnson, who at 25 is somehow the Spurs' longest tenured player, has learned to follow Popovich's lead. Which is why they both arrived at the arena so early on the afternoon of November 2, 2024.

Johnson was there to get extra work and treatment before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Popovich, then at age 75, was there to go through the pregame workout routine that had become essential as he made his way through the grind of an NBA season.

But shortly after stepping away from his workout next to the team's locker room, deep inside the warren of white, silver and black hallways at the arena, Popovich stopped in his tracks. Team staffers who were around while he was lifting weights knew something was off and grabbed him, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

They immediately sat Popovich down.

Nearby, Johnson heard the commotion as the coach began receiving medical attention.

"I couldn't see him," Johnson told ESPN. "But to see how everybody was talking about it was scary."

Johnson tried to get closer, but Popovich was already being attended to by team staffers who would eventually lead him to an ambulance out of the arena to a nearby hospital. Only a few players, staffers and arena employees had any sense of what had happened.

"Nobody really wanted to say anything," Johnson said. "Nobody wanted to let us in and tell us what was really going on. The unknown was really tough."

At around 5:15 p.m., reporters gathered in the interview room for Popovich's pregame press conference. Although he is normally punctual, it wasn't completely out of the ordinary for Popovich to be late or miss one of these availabilities. One time last season, he got caught in traffic on his way from the team's new practice facility, The Rock at La Cantera.

Other times, he has missed games for minor medical procedures or personal reasons. The assistant coach that had run the scouting on the night's opponent was usually appointed to fill in.

So it didn't raise any eyebrows when Spurs longtime spokesman Tom James came into the room around 5:30 to announce that Popovich was "under the weather" and assistant coach Mitch Johnson would lead the team that night.

Behind the scenes though, word had begun to spread among the team that what had happened to Popovich -- the rock upon which one of the NBA's most successful franchises has been built -- was serious and perhaps life-threatening.

It would take time for doctors to determine the extent of the damage Popovich suffered after what was deemed a mild stroke. Players weren't able to talk to him for weeks. It was several months before he was strong enough to walk and then stand in front of the team and speak directly to them.

"It's been pretty tough for me," Johnson said. "He's been our role model since I got here. He's been that leader."

So much has happened in the five months since. The Spurs made a blockbuster trade to land All-NBA guard De'Aaron Fox. Stephon Castle has blossomed into the presumptive Rookie of the Year. Wembanyama looked every bit like the generational superstar he was billed to be before he was lost for the season with a blood clot in his arm.

But Popovich hasn't coached since that night and won't coach again this season. Veteran Harrison Barnes said Popovich is "ahead of schedule" in his recovery. Another source said the coach has advanced in five months of rehab to the point where many who suffer strokes progress over nine months. Still, no one knows yet whether he can return to the sidelines next season, either.

It is a strange new reality for everyone. The bond between Popovich and the Spurs has been so solid, so ingrained in everything, that it fueled the rise of this proud franchise. They grew together, evolved, aged and then started anew. Until Popovich stopped in his tracks that afternoon in November, leaving everyone at a crossroads. The long-discussed and delayed succession plan was suddenly urgent, and decisions that were once his to make, perhaps were no longer.

For the first time in three decades, the man who has been at the center of this city and this franchise has been on a different sideline -- fighting to get back to what he once was.

THERE ARE REMINDERS of Popovich's influence all over San Antonio. Stop by the Bird Bakery in Alamo Heights where he had cookies custom-made for his 70th birthday party. Or Battalion, a fine dining Italian spot in the historic Firehouse 7 building where Popovich is an investor. Or one of his favorite French bistros over in Southtown: Bar Loretta. Every waiter or sommelier has a story, a fond memory of when Popovich came by.

Johnson does, too. Popovich invited Johnson and that year's rookie class to a fancy dinner at Bliss, a restaurant in Southtown featuring American fare. "He was like, 'Y'all try these oysters,'" Johnson said. "And Quinndary [Weatherspoon] was like, 'I ain't never had oysters.'"

"You want to play?" Popovich said. "You better try the oysters."

Fortunately for Johnson, he had tried oysters, passing Popovich's first test. Over the next five years that he played for him, the tests kept coming.

In 2021, he invited Johnson to the national team camp, telling him, "I need you to be ready because I'm going out on a limb telling everybody you're ready." Johnson just assumed he was being invited to the junior team camp. Even that was daunting.

But Popovich thought he was capable of more, and when Johnson had a strong camp, the coach went out on another limb, choosing him for the Olympic team that competed in the Summer Olympics.

"He's really shaped who I am as a young man," Johnson said. "A lot of people think Pop is so stern. No, no, no. He's one of the best human beings I've ever been around. He treats everybody really well and puts everyone before himself."

His legacy is ironclad, unimpeachable, and was already so if he'd retired a decade ago, after San Antonio won its last championship in 2014. The five championship trophies the Spurs won -- during their unprecedented 22-year run of making the playoffs under Popovich and executive R.C. Buford -- are housed inside The Rock, now the largest mass timber (natural wood) sports facility in North America.

Located 20 miles up Highway 10, at 1 Spurs Way, the organization spent $500 million to open the 45-acre community venue in the fall of 2023. In addition to state-of-the-art facilities for the Spurs, there are parks for families, restaurants, community trails, a 40-foot LED screen that plays everything from Spurs games throughout the week to "sing-along Sundays," as well as plans for a medical center that will serve the community. It was made in Popovich's image -- what he values and what he cares about.

The most prominent display inside the 134,000 square foot building, however, is Popovich's coaching mantra, The Stonecutter's Creedo:

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

The quote from Jacob Riis, a Danish activist and reformer, seeps into every aspect of Popovich and the Spurs, although Popovich would have you believe he's played just a small role in establishing it. But it's the Spurs Way.

"I was tasked with the job to create an environment so we could have some success," he said at his Hall of Fame ceremony in 2023, a ceremony he delayed until the Hall of Fame players he coached -- David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker -- had been inducted.

But the truth is Popovich's impact on basketball, and on the Spurs, can never be fully encapsulated.

"Pop is as good a coach as there has ever been in any sport," former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewzski, recently told ESPN.

The two coaching lions have grown closer later in their professional lives.

"We really got to know each other when he was named the national coach and I was still the national coach," Krzyzewski says. "We became real close and I wished I was that close with him my entire career."

He admired how Popovich had led his teams and tried to use his platform outside of coaching, he said. They'd bonded over their military pasts. Krzyzewski was an Army cadet. Popovich went to the Air Force Academy.

Krzyzewski had the luxury of planning his retirement and choosing his successor [Jon Scheyer] when he retired in 2022 at age 75. He was ready to be done with all the travel and recruiting and demands of coaching a top college program. And he had a role with Duke and family life all set up and waiting for him.

Popovich wasn't there yet. His passion for coaching remains, especially for this young team with Wembanyama as its leader. And as far as the Spurs were concerned, that was how it should be.

"It's Pop's decision," one person close to the situation told ESPN. "He's earned that."

THAT HAS BEEN the Spurs' succession plan for the better part of a decade. Each summer, Popovich would take some time to digest the season and see if the fire still burned inside of him. Buford and Co. would wait for word, trusting that Popovich would always be honest enough with himself to do what was best for the organization.

Over the years, a half dozen assistant coaches were talked about as potential successors. First it was Mike Brown, Mike Budenholzer and Brett Brown, but they eventually got head coaching positions elsewhere. Then came Ime Udoka, Becky Hammon, Will Hardy, James Borrego, Monty Williams and Taylor Jenkins. Popovich outlasted them all, too.

Last year there was talk around the league that Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played for Popovich for four seasons, could be positioned as a successor if he didn't come to an agreement on an extension with the Warriors. But Kerr re-signed with Golden State for two more seasons -- a deal that ends after next season -- and the expectation is that he'll coach there as long as Stephen Curry is hitting 3-pointers by the Bay.

So it was Johnson who was named interim head coach in November. Compared to others who have been mentioned as possible successors, Johnson's resume was light. He'd played at Stanford, came up through the Spurs system and had earned a strong reputation in coaching circles after interviewing for a head coaching job last summer in Toronto.

"Seeing him in the position he's in now is not a shock. He belongs there," Milwaukee Bucks center 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."

Still, James, who has been the Spurs top communications official for 30 years after first joining the organization in 1988 as an intern, knew most of the media in Los Angeles weren't familiar with him before the team's game against the LA Clippers on November 4.

"For those of you not from San Antonio, our coach tonight is Mitch Johnson," James said in front of the room, a few minutes before Johnson stepped to the podium.

The feeling in the room was somber. The full extent of Popovich's situation was still coming into focus.

Earlier that day, officials revealed to the team that Popovich had suffered a stroke, sources said. He was still in the hospital, and no one could say yet how damaging the stroke had been.

It was an impossible update for the team to swallow. They'd spent the past two days not knowing what had happened, only to learn just how serious it was. All some of them knew was that their leader had been whisked away in an ambulance, from the safety of the arena to the unknown.

Prior to tipoff at Intuit Dome, veteran point guard Chris Paul was asked to speak for the players, and he did so, just a few steps away from the locker room.

"We know he's going to be watching," Paul said before the game. "He's going to let us know what he sees. All the guys with our team, staff, everyone definitely misses him because he's Pop. There's a feeling when he's in the room that just calms everybody."

Mitch Johnson delivered his own heartfelt statement about Popovich before the game, before going through his pregame warm-up with Wembanyama and the team. "I just want to start off by saying that Pop's impact on our organization ... it's hard to articulate or put into words, and if I tried it would not do it justice," he said. "He's been tremendous for me personally, and right now his health is the No. 1 priority. ... I talked to him last night. He's in good spirits. He's OK, and we can't wait to have him back."

The Spurs came out making nearly every shot against the Clippers, building a 26-point lead by the end of the first quarter. But eventually the emotional toll caught up to them.

They lost, 113-104.

FOR A CITY that's changing as rapidly as the weather shifts in south Texas, the Spurs move at a decidedly slower pace. Moves, updates and changes happen behind closed doors, and the franchise announces or acknowledges them in a way that creates as little noise as possible.

In the past nine years, the team quietly changed leadership, from longtime owner Peter Holt, who retired in 2016, to his ex-wife, Julianna Hawn Holt, and now to their children, Peter John Holt and Corrina Holt Richter, who represent the family on the franchise's board of managers. The club has also added minority owners and strategic partners such as Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, Joe Gebbia, co-founder and chairman of Airbnb, and the McCombs family, which returned after 30 years in 2023 to purchase a share in the organization that the family's patriarch helped establish and once owned.

These are giant changes for a franchise. Had they happened in New York or Los Angeles or even Dallas, it would've been international news. But with the Spurs, there were a few stories in the local media and everything kept on going the way it has for the past three decades.

That's because of Popovich and Buford, who met on Larry Brown's staff at Kansas 39 years ago and have been inseparable ever since. Buford is the Spurs' CEO while Popovich is the Spurs' president and head coach. Brian Wright has been the team's general manager since 2019.

The organization moves when it has clarity on a situation, not when there is speculation.

The Spurs have offered four updates on Popovich since Nov. 2. First to say that he would not travel with the team to Los Angeles. Then, 11 days later on Nov. 13, to say he'd suffered a mild stroke and was expected to make a complete recovery.

Then, a month later on December 16, Popovich released a statement thanking everyone for the outpouring of support he'd received, joking that "no one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process. They've quickly learned that I'm less than coachable."

Finally on February 27, Popovich announced that he would not return to the sidelines this season but hoped that he could return to coaching in the future.

In between those statements, his recovery progressed. After a few weeks in the hospital, Popovich was released, and a few months after that, he was able to start walking again, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.

"It's Pop's decision. He's earned that."

Source with knowledge of the Spurs

He was in communication with the coaching staff, front office and several players throughout his rehabilitation, multiple players and team officials said. Keldon Johnson said he could tell from the text messages and calls he received from Popovich that he'd been paying close attention to the team throughout the season.

"He'll tell me that he's proud of me, that he loved me," Johnson said. "In a long season, conversations that really push me through to that next day."

By late January, Popovich was well enough to address the team in person. But with the annual Rodeo road trip starting February 3 in Memphis, it was difficult to find a date. Initially, sources said the Spurs planned for Popovich to address the team the first day back after the All-Star break. But that plan fell through when Wembanyama experienced pain in his shoulder while traveling in Wyoming after the All-Star Game.

Two days later, the team announced that Wembanyama would miss the remainder of the season after a blood clot was discovered in his right arm.

On Feb. 27, an off day between a game in Houston and a game in Memphis, the Spurs were able to find time for Popovich to speak to his team. The collective weight of Popovich's absence, Wembanyama's devastating news and the long road trip -- they'd been home only twice in a month -- had taken a toll. The Spurs had lost four in a row to drop out of the playoff picture.

On the practice court at The Rock, Popovich stood in front of his team to deliver a message: He wasn't coming back this season, he told them. But he had been watching them closely and was still in position to hold them accountable for their play.

"Everybody shut the f--- up when he walked in," Johnson said. "That's just how it's always been with Pop. Obviously, he's still recovering. But he was still cussing. 'Y'all need to play defense. Y'all need to rebound.' Knowing that, s---, he really is watching the games because he's calling out specific situations, was huge.

"It was what we needed. I feel like he brought that life, that spark. That Pop that we all knew and loved. He came into that meeting and that's who he was. It was like he didn't skip a beat."

He spoke a little more slowly than before, more measured. Wearing an all-black sweatsuit, Popovich talked about the future, one he hopes includes a spot at the head of the bench. But also he cautioned, reiterating a standard that has come to define his three decades at the helm.

If I can't be 100% myself, I'm doing everybody a disservice.

His words were met with silence and nods.

"It's much bigger than basketball," Fox said. "This is about his life."

The message hit.

"It's an inspiration," Fox said. "Going through the things that he's going through, and him trying to fight back just to be out there. It is a testament to who he is as a person and you can tell that he really wants to be back out there.

Fox, who will miss the rest of the season with a tendon injury in his pinkie, had only talked to Popovich on the phone since joining the team in a trade on February 2. This was the first time he'd seen Popovich since coming to San Antonio.

"It would go from serious to laughing back to serious and laughing," Fox told ESPN. "But he knows how to keep people engaged, and I think that's why he's been able to do what he does for so long. Obviously, we want him to be as healthy as possible. But I would love to be coached by Pop, for sure."

FOR AS MUCH that has changed in San Antonio since Popovich first arrived in 1988, there are some things that never do.

People might leave the Spurs at one point in their careers, but they often come back to live in San Antonio. This place, like the organization, is a forever home. Once you are part of the Spurs family, there is always a place for you.

Monty Williams came back after his first wife, Ingrid, was killed in a car accident in 2016. He came back again after being fired in Phoenix in 2023 and Detroit in 2024. He's coaching his sons, Elijah and Micah, along with Tim Duncan's son, Draven, at TMI Episcopal High School now.

Duncan never left after his playing career ended in 2016. Neither did Ginobili, who took a job with the Spurs and often brings his 14-year-old twin boys to home games. Parker has left and come back several times, having recently been around the team as he plans out his future in basketball.

Mike Brown came back in between jobs. So did Danny Ferry and Chris Grant.

This is also part of the Spurs Way. Popovich created this culture, and it has endured. The question, now, is how it evolves when he is no longer its steward.

It's a question that has hung over the franchise for a decade but still doesn't seem real, despite everything that's happened this year. To nearly everyone involved, including perhaps the man himself, it's impossible to imagine any alternative.

But the truth is, much has already changed. Popovich has handed more and more of the coaching duties to his assistants over the years. He empowered them to coach in his stead multiple times.

He even moved from his longtime home in Dominion to a penthouse in Southtown a few years back. That perfect four-bedroom house with the customized wine cellar he loved so much? He sold it during the pandemic in 2020.

His children are grown. His wife, Erin, passed away in 2018 after a long illness. Everything was changing, and so he did, too.

During his Hall of Fame speech, the famously private man acknowledged some of what he'd been through and how much he was still looking forward to in his life.

He thanked his children, Mickey and Jill, for looking after him. He gushed as he called out to "the stars of the show," his grandchildren Bridget and Finn.

"My wife Erin was our rock," he said. "My daughter Jill has taken over the mantle and keeps us on the straight and narrow."

This is what he's been fighting for this year: to get back to the life he built for his family, his team and his city -- and then decide, on his own terms, how and when it is time to leave.