The Gregg Popovich movie is not in the works, but it’s hard to imagine fitting his life into a two-hour film.
Before becoming the greatest coach the NBA has ever seen, Popovich played for the Air Force Academy basketball team, almost joined the CIA, and served in the Air Force for five years, touring the Eastern Bloc as a basketball player.
He then worked his way up through the college and pro ranks, hitching his wagon to Larry Brown, who eventually got him his first NBA job with the Spurs, before he took an assistant job with the Golden State Warriors.
Popovich would return to San Antonio as general manager, hired himself as head coach, and the rest is history. He has five titles, more wins than any NBA coach, and enough quotables to fill a book.
If his story is ever put on the silver screen, one actor wants to throw his hat in the ring.
Jesse Eisenberg Wants to Star as Gregg Popovich
There aren’t really any two figures more different than Popovich and Mark Zuckerberg, but Jesse Eisenberg wants to play them both. Eisenberg was a well-known actor before starring in The Social Network in 2010, but the Aaron Sorkin-directed blockbuster won Best Picture, catapulting Eisenberg into A-list fame.
At this point in his career, he can have his pick of roles. He’s been typecast as a shy and nerdy character, and Pop, who commanded every press conference and sideline interview, would be a new challenge.
“I just find him to be the most fascinating person on the planet,” Eisenberg said in an interview with The Wrap. “Here’s this tough coach who cries sometimes and talks about the plight of America, and yet he’s also this terrifying figure who can be so mean to journalists. People like that are fascinating because, on the one hand, they’re known to be very nasty, and on the other hand, they’re these bleeding hearts.”
Calling Pop a “bleeding heart” might not be the most apt descriptor, but it’s not too far off from the truth. While Popovich made a habit of poking fun at Craig Sager or whichever TV personality got to interview him during games, he is, by all accounts, a well-meaning person.
During his coaching career, he went on tirade after tirade calling out Donald Trump and social injustices, developed bonds with hundreds of players, and built one of the most impressive coaching trees in the NBA. Becky Hammon, Steve Kerr, Ime Udoka, Will Hardy, Sam Presti, Mike Brown, James Borrego, and Quin Snyder, among many, many others, went on to have head coaching careers of their own after shadowing Popovich.
While playing Zuckerberg put Eisenberg on a lot of fans’ radars, playing Popovioch might be the biggest challenge of his career.
Of course, any Spurs fan worth their salt would be at the midnight release of the Pop biopic, if it ever got made.
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