Why Spurs’ Mitch Johnson isn’t investing much in the Coach of the Month award

On the heels of a memorable December San Antonio SpursMitch Johnson was named Western Conference Coach of the Month. The Silver and Black went an NBA-best 11-3 over the final month of 2025, including a run to the Emirates NBA Cup Championship Game and 6-1 on the road in December. San Antonio’s slate included road wins over the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, as well as three wins over the Oklahoma City Thunderand a year-end win against the New York Knicks.

It is Johnson’s first coach of the month in his career, who took over from the legendary Gregg Popovich in the spring.

Like the Hall of Famer, Johnson quickly downplayed the honor.

“It was or is, in my opinion, a reflection of the team’s success, and then obviously it’s a byproduct of the top-to-bottom operation and the players bringing it to life,” Johnson said before a 123-113 victory against the Indiana Pacers that marked the team’s first game of 2026.

Congratulations to Head Coach Mitch Johnson for being named Western Conference Coach of the Month for December 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KSK8p7UTGT5

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 2, 2026

Mitch Johnson leads the Spurs in December

From Dec. 8 to Christmas, the Spurs enjoyed an eight-game winning streak. Their only loss during that span came against the Knicks in the NBA Cup Finals, which the league doesn’t count as a record game. In each of the first seven wins of that streak, another player led them in scoring. It marked the second such instance in NBA history, with San Antonio owning both events. Also during the month, eight different players averaged at least 10 points per contest as the Spurs went 5-1 in the contest.

The Spurs are averaging 121.4 points per game and holding opponents to 115, with a 118.9 offensive rating, which ranks fifth in the NBA, and a 112 defensive rating — good for sixth in the league — while leading all teams in defensive rebounding percentage at 74.3.

The aforementioned wins against the defending champion Thunder opened eyes around the basketball world, catapulting the Spurs from a team considered a playoff contender to a real threat to the championship. OKC finished 2025 with just five losses, although three of them came at their own hands booming rivals from south texas.

Johnson is joined by Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula, Eastern Conference Coach of the Month.

Johnson takes over from Gregg Popovich

This season actually marks Johnson’s second stint at the helm. He took over five games into the 2024-25 campaign after Popovic suffered a stroke at the Frost Bank Center hours before the contest in early November. With the franchise allowing the winningest coach in NBA history to recover and make decisions on his own timeline, Johnson retained the interim head coaching designation until early May, when Pop hosted a press conference to introduce Johnson as the head coach.

Johnson, from Seattle, Washington, played at Stanford before starting his coaching career in 2015. He joined the Spurs organization a year later, leading the Austin Spurs of the G League to the title in 2018. He moved to San Antonio as an assistant in 2019.

“The recognition is real, but again I think it’s more about the whole than the coach,” Johnson said.