Popovich promotes G League’s Johnson to coaching staff

The Spurs on Friday announced several moves within their coaching and basketball operations staffs, including the promotion of Mitch Johnson to Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff.

Johnson spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the Spurs’ developmental league team in Austin. A Stanfordex, Johnson played in the G League and in Europe before becoming a coach. His résumé includes one season as an assistant at the University of Portland in 2016.

Johnson’s promotion caps a season of change for Popovich’s staff after veteran assistants Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka departed for jobs in Italy and Philadelphia in June.

Popovich will enter training camp with a staff that consists of Becky Hammon; Will Hardy, who was promoted in July from a player development role; Tim Duncan, who returned to the club in July after retiring in 2016 as its greatest player; and Johnson, who fills Hardy’s player development role and will sit behind the bench during games.

The club also announced the following promotions and additions to the basketball operations staff: Darius Songalia (player development assistant), Brandon James (vice president of basketball administration and deputy general counsel), Dave Telep (director of player personnel), Adam Glessner (senior director of basketball intelligence), Phil Cullen (director of basketball operations and innovation), Niraj Mulji (director of basketball strategy), Nick Repole (director of research and development), Landry Fields (Austin Spurs general manager), Tyler Self (Austin Spurs assistant general manager) and Keon Weise (performance informatic scout).