Coach Gregg Popovich’s comments came as the Spurs prepared to play their first game of the “I-35 Series” Thursday in Austin. Credit: Facebook / San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters at a Wednesday press conference that the Silver and Black will continue to play a few games in Austin each season.

Even so, Pop assured fans that doesn’t mean the team is relocating. Instead, the organization is determined to spread its reach beyond San Antonio, which remains one of the smallest media markets in major league sports.

“The bottom line is the Spurs organization wants to expand the territory,” Popovich said. “We live here in this region, all the way from Mexico all the way to up here, and we’d like to spread that experience we’ve had with the Spurs to another area, and to do that we have to make the effort to be seen and to get up here and to play some games.”

The comments from the soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee came as the team prepped to will play its first game of the “I-35 Series” at Austin’s Moody Center on Thursday. The matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers will be the second time this season the Spurs will play a home game at a venue other than the AT&T Center.

Relocation fears swirled last summer when the Spurs said they would play one home game in Mexico City and two more in Austin. Intensifying the panic was the revelation that Austin billionaire Michael Dell bought in as part-owner and a multi-year agreement with Austin-based Self Financial as a jersey sponsor.

Even so, Popovich and Spurs CEO R.C. Buford have assured fans that the Spurs are in the Alamo City for the long term. With construction of the Spur’s new training facility, the $500 million Rock at La Cantera sports complex, well underway, the numbers also suggest the team has made a lengthy commitment.

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This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...