Red Auerbach. Lenny Wilkens. Don Nelson. Going back to the end of the NBA’s inaugural season 75 years ago, before it was even called the NBA, they’re the only coaches to hold the distinction of having more wins than anyone else.

Until now.

Pop has finally joined the club.

Soon, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, Gregg Popovich will stand alone in NBA history. The longtime San Antonio coach – a winner of five NBA titles, the coach of the reigning Olympic gold medalists, a lock for enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame as soon as he tells them that he’d like to be considered – got career win No. 1,335 on Monday night when the Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 117-110, tying him with Nelson atop the league’s all-time regular season victory list.

“He deserves it,” Spurs guard Dejounte Murray said.

Predictably, Popovich never was on board with that sentiment. He’s been waiting somewhat impatiently for the last couple weeks for the pursuit – more specifically, all the questions about it – to end. Making matters worse, the Spurs had lost each of their first four attempts to get him the record-tying victory.

Now, one more win – the first chance comes Wednesday against Toronto – and he’ll be alone atop the regular-season victory list. More importantly to him, he won’t have to hear as much about it anymore.

“That’ll be a good thing,” Popovich conceded.

His place in basketball history, his legacy, his stamp as one of the game’s all-time greats – if not the greatest of the greats – was secure long ago. He’s one of only eight coaches in the four major U.S. sports leagues to be with one team for at least 25 years. And by adding in his 170 playoff victories, his total is at 1,505 in the NBA, which is 93 more than anyone else.

It was a circuitous path to this point. He played at the U.S. Air Force Academy, famously wasn’t picked in a bid to make the 1972 U.S. Olympic team, wound up becoming a coach and probably would have been perfectly content to run a Division III program in California for the entirety of his professional life.

Eventually, the NBA called. In time, Popovich would be paired with David Robinson, then the patriarch of a dynasty fueled by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The rest is history. Historic, actually.

“Everyone knows the amazing job he’s done and all the accomplishments,” longtime coach Larry Brown said last year. “I wish more people really could know the type of person that he is.”

Brown was a big part of how Popovich got here.

Popovich’s path to the NBA, and then to the role as coach of the Spurs, wasn’t exactly traditional. Popovich was coaching at Pomona-Pitzer, a small Division III school in California. He inherited a program not exactly teeming with expectations: Pomona-Pitzer had lost 88 consecutive conference games before hiring Popovich.

He delivered a league title in 1985-86, the school’s first in about 70 years. And then Popovich asked for a sabbatical, telling the school he needed to go learn more about the game. He spent a month at North Carolina, absorbing the teachings of Dean Smith. And then he sat on Brown’s bench at Kansas, reuniting with a coach he met through ties he made while a student at the Air Force Academy.

Popovich acknowledged that he has wondered what would have happened if Smith and Brown hadn’t extended those opportunities his way.

“Each of us does that, right? Each of our lives is the sum of experiences, if-this, if-that,” Popovich said. “I’m no different than anybody else.”

After the sabbatical, Popovich, true to his word, returned to Pomona-Pitzer. Brown invited his team to Kansas for a game the following season; the Jayhawks, predictably, toyed with the D-III team, winning 94-38.

A year later, Brown called again. He had left Kansas to coach the Spurs. He wanted Popovich to come along. Popovich was in San Antonio until 1992, when Brown – and the whole coaching staff – got fired. Popovich got a job as an assistant in Golden State, working for Nelson.

After two seasons with Nelson, Popovich was wanted by the Spurs again – this time, as vice president for basketball operations. That was in 1994. In 1996, he fired Bob Hill and named himself coach of the Spurs. And he’s stayed in that chair ever since.

THUNDER: Lu Dort, Oklahoma City’s No. 2 scorer, will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to address a cartilage tear in his left shoulder.

Dort joins reserves Ty Jerome and Mike Muscala as Thunder players who had procedures on Tuesday, the team announced.

Dort, a well-established defensive guard, stepped up his offensive game this season and averaged 17.2 points per contest. The team said he is expected to return to full basketball activities before next season.

Muscala, a power forward and center, had procedures to repair his injured right ankle. The crowd favorite averaged 8.0 points in 43 games and shot 42.9% from 3-point range. He is expected to return to full basketball activities prior to the start of the 2022-23 season.

Jerome, who plays guard and small forward, had surgery to repair a sports hernia. He averaged 7.1 points in 48 games. He is expected to return to full basketball activities in approximately eight weeks.

TUESDAY’S GAMES

NETS 132, HORNETS 121: Kyrie Irving hit nine 3-pointers and scored a season-high 50 points as visiting Brooklyn snapped a four-game skid.

Irving became one of 22 players in NBA history with five 50-point games, according to Basketball Reference. His career high is 57 points on March, 12, 2015, while with the Cleveland Cavaliers in an overtime win against San Antonio.

Andre Drummond dominated inside, finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds for Brooklyn, which got back to .500 on the season and moved into sole possession of eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, breaking a tie with the Hornets.

Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier each finished with 30 points for Charlotte.

SUNS 102, MAGIC 99: DeAndre Ayton and Landry Shamet scored 21 points each and Mikal Bridges blocked a potential tying 3-pointer in the final seconds to help Phoenix win at Orlando, Florida.

After Cameron Payne’s two free throws put the Suns up by three with 6.9 seconds left, Orlando’s Moritz Wagner put up a 3-pointer that Bridges deflected.

Ayton had 19 rebounds and scored the Suns’ final two baskets, including a putback with 1:31 left after Orlando had taken a 98-97 lead.

Payne finished with 18 points and 12 assists.

Wendell Carter Jr. led Orlando with 20 points and had 12 rebounds. Mo Bamba had nine points and 15 boards.

CAVALIERS 127, PACERS 124: Darius Garland had 41 points and 13 assists and hit a decisive pair of free throws with 14 seconds left to lead visiting Cleveland over Indiana.

The Pacers went ahead 124-122 with 40 seconds remaining when Malcolm Brogdon was credited with a basket after Evan Mobley was called for goaltending.

Mobley then tied the game on a putback before Garland put the Cavs ahead with his free throws.

Dean Wade intercepted a pass by Brogdon on the Pacers’ next possession. Lamar Stevens hit a free throw, and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton missed a desperation heave at the buzzer.

GRIZZLIES 132, PELICANS 111: Ja Morant had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane added 22 points apiece as Memphis built an early lead and routed visiting New Orleans.

Ziaire Williams finished with 16 points for Memphis.

CJ McCollum led the Pelicans with 32 points, going 13 of 21 from the field, including 5 of 10 from beyond the arc. McCollum also handed out 11 assists. Willy Hernangomez scored 17 points and Naji Marshall 16.

BUCKS 142, THUNDER 115: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 39 points and visiting Milwaukee won its fifth straight.

Antetokounmpo made 13 of 19 shots and had seven rebounds and seven assists.

Khris Middleton had 25 points and nine assists, and Bobby Portis added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who scored a season-high point total and shot 53% (53 for 100) from the field.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 33 points, a career-high 14 assists and eight rebounds for the Thunder.

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