SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs started Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina, then were detoured to Atlanta because of an equipment issue on the team’s charter plane.
But by the end of the night, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had reached a new destination in his career. With his team’s 112-103 win over the Orlando Magic, Johnson was named the Western Conference All-Star head coach for the Feb. 15 exhibition in Inglewood, California.
“It would be an honor and humbling to be able to be a part of All-Star Weekend with the best players in this league,” Johnson said. “The league always does a great job of putting a great weekend on. It’s an example of and a reflection of the work that these guys have put in.”
Detroit‘s J.B. Bickerstaff will coach one of the three All-Star teams under the new “U.S. vs. the World” format. He earned that honor because the Pistons have the best record in the East. Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma City Thunder cannot coach the All-Star Game this year because he coached at the event last season.
With Daigneault ineligible, Johnson and the Nuggets‘ David Adelman were vying for the honor. The Spurs’ win Sunday improved their record to 33-16 and clinched the honor for Johnson. The Nuggets lost to the Thunder, dropping Denver’s record to 33-17.
The NBA has not revealed how the coach of the third All-Star team will be decided.
Johnson reached the milestone following a long day that started at 6 a.m. ET in Charlotte, where the team spent the night snowed in after a loss Saturday to the Hornets. The Spurs were scheduled to fly home immediately after Saturday’s game, but a reported 11 inches of snow fell at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, grounding more than 1,000 flights and causing the NBA to delay the start of Sunday’s Magic-Spurs game from 3 p.m. CT to 6 p.m.
Once the weather cleared up enough for the Spurs to take off for San Antonio, the pilot announced the flight needed to be diverted to Atlanta due to a mechanical issue. So, the NBA delayed the tipoff by another two hours.
The Spurs landed at San Antonio International Airport nearly 4½ hours before tipoff.
“It was a little scary,” forward Keldon Johnson said. “They came on the intercom and said we were losing cabin pressure. We had to emergency land. Our pilot took care of us. After that, the mood kind of lightened up and went back to joking. It was scary.”
Mitch Johnson, who is in his first full season coaching the Spurs, is the second All-Star Game head coach in franchise history and the first since Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich in 2016.
San Antonio’s 33-16 record is its best mark through 49 games since the 2016-17 season.
Johnson has helped the Spurs capture the third-most clutch wins in the NBA (17). San Antonio has an offensive rating of 124.8 in clutch situations.
“I’m so happy for him,” said Spurs big man and All-Star starter Victor Wembanyama, who had 25 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 steals Sunday. “I don’t know how many [coaches] have done this in their first season or first-and-a-half.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
