Johnson, in the midst of his first full year as Spurs head coach, has the team locked into second place in the West as 2026 begins.
SAN ANTONIO — The NBA on Friday announced San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson has been named Western Conference Coach of the Month for December, which saw the Spurs going 11-3 for the best mark in the NBA.
Those wins included a strong run to the Emirates NBA Cup Championship; a 6-1 road record; and three headlining victories over Oklahoma City, the defending NBA champions.
The team’s strong December was highlighted by an eight-game winning streak that ran from Dec. 8-25, a stretch of games that saw the Silver & Black averaging 121.4 points per game while holding opponents to 115.0; posting an offensive rating of 118.9 (fifth in the NBA) and a defensive rating of 112.0 (sixth); and leading the league in defensive rebounding percentage (74.3).
Notable, San Antonio accomplished all that while All-Star center Victor Wembanyama was playing with a minutes restriction as he works his way back from a calf strain. He averaged just over 23 minutes a game in December and came off the bench in most of the 10 games he appeared in; he had played at least 30 minutes in every game prior to his injury.
The Spurs are 24-9 and occupy the second spot in the West as 2026 gets underway.
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month, joins Johnson as December’s winners.
A Spurs head coach hadn’t won the award since Gregg Popovich in February of the 2016-17 season; the Spurs went 61-21 in that campaign, which ended with a conference finals loss to the Warriors.