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#1 Gregg Popovich - $10 million
The head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs organization, Gregg Popovich has been instrumental to the best small market success story in American sports history. He celebrated his 1222nd win earlier this month, making him 3rd all-time in wins coached during the NBA regular season.
Taking over the team as head coach in 1996-97, which was the last season the Spurs didn't make the playoffs, Popovich has led San Antonio to 20 straight 50-win-pace seasons. 5 of those seasons have culminated in championships during Tim Duncan's heyday, but the modern Spurs embody the same spirit on both ends of the floor even today thanks to Popovich's par-excellence player development skills.
Popovich's last disclosed salary, given his dual role as team executive and head coach, was pegged at $11 million. While his NBA contract runs out at the end of this season, Pop is also in charge of the Team USA Basketball program until the next Olympics, and richly deserves his status as the highest paid NBA coach of all time.
