Not long after the Spurs’ season ended in a Western Conference finals sweep in May, soon-to-be 40-year-old Manu Ginobili met with coach Gregg Popovich to talk about the future.
Deep down, there was a part of Ginobili that hoped Popovich would make his retirement decision for him. Instead, what Popovich told Ginobili complicated everything.
“He told me that he wanted me to continue and he needed me on the team,” Ginobili wrote in the Argentinian publication La Nacion on Thursday. “If he did not want me, it would have been easier for me.”
In his semi-regular column in La Nacion, Ginobili addressed news this week that he was set to return for a 16th season with the Spurs.