SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The San Antonio Spurs are unsure when, or if, Gregg Popovich will return as coach this season.
Popovich suffered an undisclosed medical episode last Saturday about 2 1/2 hours prior to the Spurs' home game against Minnesota.
San Antonio acting head coach Mitch Johnson said Popovich was “not feeling well,” but would not elaborate on what happened hours earlier.
Popovich has missed three games since, including Thursday’s home game against Portland.
When asked if there was any clarity about Popovich returning this season, Johnson could not provide an answer.
“I would say that … he’s doing good,” Johnson said Thursday. “We’ve been talking. I’ve had my hands full with this, in trying to stay above water. So, have not talked details and I’m not sure, about anything … that I’m … no details.”
Popovich is the oldest coach in NBA history at 75 years old. In 2020, he surpassed the previous mark held by Hubie Brown as a 71-year-old in his final game as Memphis’ head coach.
Popovich is the NBA’s career leader with 1,390 victories and another 170 postseason wins while winning five NBA titles. He is in his 29th season, all with San Antonio.
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San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gives instructions to his players during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's DOGE time at the U.S. Capitol.
Billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy arrived Tuesday on Capitol Hill meeting with legislators behind closed doors about President-elect Donald Trump's plans to “dismantle” the federal government.
Trump tapped the two business titans to head his Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with firing federal workers, cutting government programs and slashing federal regulations — all part of what he calls his "Save America" agenda for a second term in the White House.
“We're going to see a lot of change around here in Washington,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, as Musk, with a small child on his shoulders, breezed by and into the private meeting.
Washington has seen this before, with ambitious efforts to reduce the size and scope of the federal government that historically have run into resistance when the public is confronted with cuts to trusted programs that millions of Americans depend on for jobs, health care, military security and everyday needs.
But this time Trump is staffing his administration with battle-tested architects of sweeping proposals, some outlined in Project 2025, to severely reduce and reshape the government. Musk and Ramaswamy said they plan to work alongside the White House's Office of Management and Budget, headed by Trump's nominee Russ Vought, a mastermind of past cuts.
“DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. “We are prepared for the onslaught.”
The duo, invited for what Johnson called a “brainstorming” session as they begin this “journey” together, face a first test in private with House and Senate lawmakers — some eager to hear what they have in mind.
“I am fired up to go out and do something,” said Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., who joined with Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, in launching what they are calling the DOGE caucus in the House, with more than 50 Republicans and two Democratic members.
Bean said the DOGE caucus will unveil an email tip line where people can report wasteful spending. He also envisions a scoreboard of sorts that people can view on a website showing “how many positions we’ve cut, agencies we’ve cut, what the actual number is.”
In the Senate, Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa and Rick Scott, R-Fla., have launched a similar caucus.
“I think that’ll be a great start to the whole process,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who will chair a House Oversight subcommittee in the new year as part of “building the bridge between Congress and DOGE.”
While neither Musk nor Ramaswamy have much public service experience, they bring track records in private business — Musk's operations have vast government contracts — and enthusiasm for Trump's agenda, having campaigned alongside him in the final stretch of the election.
The world's richest man, Musk poured millions into a get-out-the-vote effort to help the former president return to the White House. He is known politically for having transformed the popular social media site formerly known as Twitter into X, a platform embraced by Trump's MAGA enthusiasts.
Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is neither a department nor part of the government, which frees Musk and Ramaswamy from having to go through the typical ethics and background checks required for federal employment. They said they will not be paid for their work.
One good-government group has said that DOGE, as a presidential advisory panel, should be expected to adhere to traditional practices of transparency, equal representation and public input — as happened with similar advisory entities from the Reagan to the Obama administrations.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act “is designed expressly for situations like this," wrote Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman, the co-chairs of Public Citizen in a letter to the Trump transition team.
"If the government is going to turn to unelected and politically unaccountable persons to make recommendations as grand as $2 trillion in budget cuts, it must ensure those recommendations come from a balanced and transparent process not rigged to benefit insiders.”
The nation's $6 trillion federal budget routinely runs a deficit, which this year ran $1.8 trillion, a historic high, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It has not been balanced since the Clinton administration more than two decades ago.
Republicans generally blame what they see as exorbitant spending for the deficit, while Democrats point to tax cuts enacted under Republican presidents Trump and George W. Bush as the major driver.
Receipts last year as a percentage of gross domestic product came in just below the average for the past 50 years, while outlays were equal to 23.4% of GDP, compared to the 50-year average of 21.1%
Some of the biggest increases in spending last year occurred with politically popular programs that lawmakers will be reticent to touch. For example, spending on Social Security benefits went up 8%, Medicare outlays increased 9%, spending on defense went up 7% and spending on veterans health care rose 14%, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he would like to see Musk testify before the House Armed Services Committee on the “bloated defense budget.”
“I’d like to see Elon recommend some cuts. Let’s have him testify,” Khanna said.
He said he’s open to hearing proposals on non-defense spending, but was skeptical.
“If they find waste, maybe, but in terms of big numbers, I mean, no one is going to allow for cutting education funding for special needs kids and for low-income schools, or for cutting Social Security and Medicare,” Khanna said. “If they want to do that, they’re going to hand us a landslide in 2026.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrives for a roundtable meeting with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, President-elect Donald Trump's picks for the new Department of Government Efficiency, at the Capitol, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.
FILE - The Capitol is seen on Nov. 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
FILE - Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
