LeBron James jokingly tells Gregg Popovich that he’ll invite him to their next wine dinner after his 5-year, $80 million contract extension

Gregg Popovich is not only the coach to have most game wins to his name in NBA history, the 74-year-old is defintely the oldest in the league after 26 years leading the San Antonio franchise with five titles under his belt. Now, he’s the talk of the town again as he just signed a five-year, $80 million contract extension with the Spurs.

One of the first to congratulate the veteran coach was superstar LeBron James, who has always shared an immense appreciation for Popovich even though he’s never been coached by him. In jokingly fashion, the Lakers foward told him that he should treat him to their next wine dinner after signing his new million-dollar deal.

Check out LeBron’s viral post on Twitter in the following link below:

LeBron James congratulates Gregg Popovich on his 5-year contract extension 🤝 pic.twitter.com/UMbeXGSmty

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 9, 2023

The Los Angeles icon is only one of a long list of basketball players and experts to hold an enormous amount of esteem for the legendary coach.

After winning 1,366 games with San Antonio since 1996, and is currently third in the race for most playoff victories, Greg is set to enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next month.

“His ability to connect and spend time and bounce between the really detailed development of basketball players and the bigger picture of developing people is just so impressive,” said Peter J. Holt, his Spurs managing partner. “I think no matter what Pop does, he’s going to find a way to do that because that’s in his heart.

“And I’m excited to see whatever the next phase is in that journey.”

Popovich is getting ready to lead newcomer Victor Wembanyama to the top in the last phase of his coaching career

One of the main reasons Popovich is extending to coach the Spurs until he turns 79 years of age, and probably the most exciting, is to turn French sensation Victor Wembanyama into the best new player in the NBA. After guiding incredible talents such as Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili in the past, it’s now time for the seven-foot-four rising star to step up.

After their first meeting together, the 19-year-old admitted that he was nervous but enjoyed interacting with each other. “He’s not intimidating yet, but I’m sure he’s going to get intimidating when I see him in real life,” he said after the draft.

Other coaches around the league have also acknowledged his greatness. “He’s amazing,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “The Hall of Fame was just a formality. Everybody knew he would be there. It was just a matter of when.”

Curious enough, Popovich always said that he would never accept being inducted in the Hall of Fame until Duncan and Ginobili entered first.

“In all honesty, I always felt the Hall of Fame is like for Red Holzman, Red Auerbach and Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. … I’ve never felt like I really belonged, to be honest with you,” the coach said at the start of the year. “I’m not trying to be ‘Mr. Humble’ or anything. I’m a Division III guy. I’m not a Hall of Fame guy.”