Mitch Johnson

Mitchell Chase Johnson (born November 29, 1986) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He replaced Gregg Popovich, who stepped down after 29 seasons. He previously served as the interim head coach and assistant coach of the Spurs, and served as an assistant coach for the Austin Spurs from 2016 to 2019. He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal.

Early life Johnson was born in Seattle on November 29, 1986. He is the son of former NBA player John Johnson, who won the 1979 NBA Finals with the Seattle SuperSonics, and Jenny Redman.

High school career From 2002 to 2005, Johnson played for O'Dea High School under coach Phil Lumpkin, where he was the team captain. During his time at O'Dea, he was a four time All-Metro selection, three-time All-area honor, two-time All-State, an MVP of state tournament and Metro Conference MVP. He graduated with a degree in sociology.

Freshman season (2005–06) Johnson played 30 games during his freshman season, starting in 20 of them. He made his college debut against UC Irvine on November 19, 2005, in which he played 19 minutes as a bench player, and had his first college start on December 31, 2005, against USC where he scored six points in 23 minutes of action. During his freshman season, he recorded a total of 98 assists and 25 steals, which is the second most on the team. Johnson was an All-Freshman Team Honorable Mention pick. He joined the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA D-League on November 1, 2009 and played in seven games before he was waived a month later. before deciding to pursue coaching.

Coaching career

Early coaching career Before coaching for the Austin Spurs, Johnson was a coaching intern for Seattle University in 2011, served as a coach for an AAU team in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, and became an assistant coach for the Portland Pilots at the University of Portland. Johnson was an assistant coach for the Pilots during the 2015–2016 season.

Austin Spurs (2016–2019) Johnson started his NBA coaching career as an assistant coach with the Austin Spurs in 2016. Johnson won the G League Championship with the Austin Spurs in 2018.

San Antonio Spurs (2019–present) On September 20, 2019, the San Antonio Spurs hired Johnson to be an assistant coach for head coach Gregg Popovich. He was promoted by the Spurs to be a full-time assistant coach on November 12, 2020, and he replaced assistant coach Tim Duncan, who stepped down from his position on the Spurs. On May 15, 2021, Johnson was the interim head coach in a 140–103 loss against the Phoenix Suns as Popovich watched Tim Duncan's induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Johnson was the interim head coach again in a 110–99 win against the Indiana Pacers on March 2, 2023, as Popovich was unable to coach due to an illness.

On November 2, 2024, Popovich was sidelined indefinitely from coaching due to a health issue, which was eventually revealed to be a stroke, and Johnson became the Spurs interim head coach. He started coaching the Spurs on November 2 in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, having been informed two and half hours before tip off that Popovich was not available to coach because of illness, and the Spurs won 113–103 against the Timberwolves. This was the third time Johnson served as the interim head coach of the Spurs.

On May 2, 2025, Johnson was promoted to become the head coach of the Spurs, following Popovich's decision to step down after 29 seasons. As Popovich had only coached 5 games during the 2024–25 season, the NBA announced on July 2 that they would credit the 32–45 record of the remaining 77 games to Johnson.

During the 2025-26 season, Johnson led the Spurs to a 62-20 record and the two-seed in the Western Conference. Johnson and the Spurs advanced to the playoffs, where they faced the Portland Trail Blazers in the First Round and won in five games. This also become Johnson’s first playoff series win. In the Semi-Finals, they faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, and they had won in six games. In the Western Conference Finals, Johnson and the Spurs faced off against the top-seed and defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, eventually winning in 7 games after trailing three games to two. Johnson helped lead the Spurs to their first NBA Finals since 2014, where they fell in five games to the New York Knicks despite holding double-digit leads in each game, including surrendering a 29-point advantage in Game 4, an NBA Finals record.

Career playing statistics

College

NBA G League

Regular season

Head coaching record

NBA

Personal life Johnson and his wife, Jessica, have four children, Tasia, Tatum, Johnnie and Jameson.