PARIS — As the San Antonio Spurs get ready for their second game against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday at the NBA Paris Games, acting head coach Mitch Johnson remains in a position he didn’t anticipate being in when the season started.
Head coach Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke Nov. 2, catapulting Johnson not just into a job he wasn’t expecting to come around for some time but also into perhaps the biggest coaching gig in all of basketball.
Johnson isn’t just tasked with winning games. He’s also tasked with the burden of developing Victor Wembanyama and a steady core of young players under the age of 25.
Regardless of how much one can prepare for a job, when it comes out of the blue and carries this level of magnitude, it’s not something you just walk into.
And yet, here we are. The Spurs are competitive. Wembanyama is blossoming into a superstar. And several other players, such …