Gregg Popovich on Tim Duncan: 'We're, Like, in Love. We Text All the Time'

Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich are real-life bromance goals. After initially claiming that he would retire when Duncan called it quits, Popovich stayed with the San Antonio Spurs, claiming he "had to keep making promises" to a couple of players on the current roster. "You know what happened? I just got roped in," Popovich jokingly toldESPN. "I had to keep making promises. Manu [Ginobili] was going to sign a few years back and he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' Tony [Parker], then Kawhi [Leonard]. Then when we were recruiting LaMarcus [Aldridge], he was like, 'Are you going to be here?' it just goes on and on. So I guess I can never stop, I can never retire."

Nowadays, Popovich admits to feeling "a little bit lonely" without Timmy around, and even offered him a job opportunity that could potentially pique his interest. “If he wants to scout a little bit or run a drill one day or take a week road trip with us, we’re open to whatever he wants,” Popovich told the San Antonio Express-News. “We’re hoping it will infect him a little bit and he’ll want to do more.”

In the meantime, Pop says he and Duncan not only keep in touch with one another, but they "text all the time."

"Oh sure, we're, like, in love," Popovich told reporters. "We text all the time." Pop even gave us insight into their preferred use of emoji during their texts.

You gotta love Pop for injecting some humor into these reporters' questions for once—it's a nice contrast to his normal monosyllabic answers.

Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.