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NBA legend Gregg Popovich definitely knows ball, but does he know bro code? The former San Antonio Spurs head coach is remarried ... to his assistant coach's ex ... TMZ has learned. According to a marriage license obtained by TMZ ... Popovich has tied the knot with Mary Barth Budenholzer, formerly known as Mrs. Mike Budenholzer ... who worked very closely with Coach Pop to win 5 NBA Championship rings for the Spurs.
The newlyweds exchanged wedding rings September 16 in Texas ... according to the marriage license filed in Bexar County, TX. Mike coached under Gregg (NBA fans just call him Pop) as an assistant for the Spurs for almost 20 years -- from 1996 to 2013 -- before leaving to become head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. We don't know exactly when Mary and Pop started their personal championship run to the altar, but here's what we do know.
Mike and Mary quietly divorced in 2016 ... and then in 2018, Pop's first wife, Erin Popovich, died after battling an undisclosed severe illness. Now here we are in 2026 ... Pop and Mary are hitched -- they attended Spurs games together last season -- and Mike's got a new relationship, too.
Mike Budenholzer was a coach who believed in routine and a process of team building that had proved successful. A big part of that were his “break breads,” which were team dinners or gatherings, win or lose, on the road. “Break bread after every game – after every game – every game that we played that we stayed over there was a place for all of the players and all of the families to eat,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “And it was always packed. Everybody went. Because we knew it was part of our culture. Everybody had to show face. [With] all these things, there's a lot of owners that are like, 'you're spending money,' the food budget and all that goes up. Like a million dollars to $2.5 so they might not like it. But in order for you to win, you gotta spend money.”
Marc Lasry: “I think COVID, what it did was, it could either split apart a team or it brings everybody together. Bud did a great job of keeping everybody together. We talked about it. Look, ‘We need to do this. We’re going to try to do team dinners, we’re going to try to do all these different things so the team could feel we’re all in this together.’ I think that ended up working well. I think Bud did a great job, but I also think the players understood what it meant and the players bought into it.“
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Mike Budenholzer: “That team was ready. They had what it took. So I think you just hopefully create an environment and space where they can be their best. All those decisions, all the things we did to create culture, just let them know we care about them and put them in a position to be great. And I'm very appreciative that those guys – I think they do. They all love to talk about it. I think there's a lot of fond memories and appreciation. That's the stuff I love. I love the games, I love winning and all that, but the stuff away from the court is just as important and just as meaningful.”
Jusuf Nurkic: “Right after arriving at camp, he was extremely negative toward everyone. It didn’t matter whether it was me, Booker, or anyone else. Every practice was full of criticism — ‘you are not good enough’, ‘you should not be playing basketball’. Nobody really took his words seriously at first. We couldn’t understand that at one point he had lost his compass, that he didn’t care how anyone felt, and that is the most important thing in such a team environment. It was no longer about anything. We had a video meeting, 15–18 of us, all the coaches, and Budenholzer was showing clips of how everyone was performing. Booker tried to say something, he listened to him, and then told him, ‘Please do not speak anymore in these meetings so my assistants can talk.’
Jusuf Nurkic: After that meeting, nobody cared anymore about what he was showing. He was explaining to Kevin Durant how to make a basket… explaining to him how to score is like teaching a pilot how to fly a plane. It was absurd. In the end, he had a serious alcohol problem, that is known. Maybe that also affected things, but he completely lost control with the team. He started holding one-on-one meetings just to provoke players — Beal, Allen — you would come there and not believe what he was saying.
Tim Reynolds: 11 coaches have made the NBA Finals since 2020. 6 are no longer with the teams they took to those Finals. 2024: Jason Kidd, Dallas 2023: Michael Malone, Denver 2022: Ime Udoka, Boston 2021: Monty Williams, Phoenix 2021: Mike Budenholzer, Milwaukee 2020: Frank Vogel, Lakers
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Michael Scotto: Sources: The Blazers interviewed Rockets assistant Ben Sullivan for their head coaching job. He interviewed for the Suns last summer. He’s been an assistant for Ime Udoka (Rockets/Celtics), Joe Mazzulla and Mike Budenholzer (Bucks/Hawks). He played for the University of Portland.
Before his career-best 40.7 percent shooting from 3-point range this season, and before he led the NBA with 205 3-pointers off the bench, and before he tied an NBA record with five games of at least seven 3-pointers off the bench, there was Atlanta. “Rock bottom?” Hardaway repeated before a long pause. “It was Atlanta. One-thousand percent.” It was his third NBA season, in the summer of 2015 after he had been traded to the Hawks from New York, which moved on after taking him with the 24th pick in 2013. After averaging a little more than 23 minutes a game in New York, Hardaway thought he was headed for a bigger role with the Hawks. Instead, he found himself sitting in Budenholzer’s office, getting a lecture. “Bud was like, ‘You’re not gonna play the first 25 games. I don’t care if people are injured or not. Like, you won’t see the floor. We’re trying to make you into the player we want you to become,'” Hardaway remembered.
He sensed this was the beginning of the end. He wondered if he was destined for the leagues in Europe. He said he called his agent daily, as well as his Hall of Famer father, point guard Tim Hardaway Sr., fretting about his future. “It was my lowest point; I didn’t know if I was going to be sticking around,” Hardaway said.
Budenholzer’s office sermon played on repeat in his mind. Today, Hardaway remembers the entire conversation as if it was yesterday. Budenholzer wanted him to be in better shape so he could not only shoot, but also defend. He wanted him to be on time. He wanted him to work on his game outside of team practices and shootarounds. He wanted him to start eating better and taking care of his body. “He really gave me the blueprint of how to stay in the league,” Hardaway said.