Steve Kerr told reporters after Gregg Popovich retired that the legendary San Antonio Spurs' head coach had a tradition.

Any time he shared wine with friends (which happened often), he would raise a glass and offer four words: "Here's to Tim Duncan."

Popovcich knew that his success was owed to Duncan's dominance and willingness to be coached hard, and the pair won five titles together. Without Duncan, Pop doesn't become a legend.

Mitch Johnson has found himself in a similar position to a younger Pop. The first-year full-time head coach was on the Spurs' bench before Victor Wembanyama arrived, although his stardom should pull the Spurs--and Johnson--to new heights.

"I think we are very comfortable in recognizing Victor as the face of our franchise and the biggest piece of our puzzle," said Johnson after the NBA Cup win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. "It starts with him because he allows us to coach him and hold him accountable and push him like everybody else, and everything else falls in line around him."

Sound familiar? It should. The Spurs have long opted to celebrate the team over the individual, but sometimes they have to make rare exceptions.

Duncan and Wembanyama are the two that come to mind.

"When you walk into gym and you see him there before practice or after practice, or you see him with his arm around a rookie talking to him, just the empathy he has for teammates, his ability to welcome everybody into the culture and make them feel comfortable, his humor, which not too many people know about, all those things are huge," Popovich once recounted of Duncan.

Wembanyama hasn't quite blossomed into the quiet leader Duncan was, although it's worth noting that Duncan spent four seasons in college polishing that aspect of his game. Most would agree that Wemby is on his way.

"I would not be standing here if it wasn't for Tim Duncan," Popovich said in 2016. "I'd be in the Bud League, the Budweiser League, someplace in America, fat and still trying to play basketball or coach basketball. But he's why I'm standing here. He's made a living for hundreds of us staff and coaches over the years."

Perhaps Johnson will soon be able to say the same about Wemby. It's not a knock on him or Pop, both have been fantastic in their roles, although success starts on the court, and when the superstar buys into "the Spurs' way," it makes life a lot easier for the head coach.

Wembanyama has talked at length about how improvement and winning are the most important things to him.

"Just stacking money hasn't really been any goal of mine in my life," Wemby said.

Duncan, who famously took a paycuts twice in his career, couldn't agree more.

Wembanyama has been compared to Kareem, Hakeem, Durant, Curry, and even Nikola Jokic. In San Antonio, however, there's no greater praise than being compared to the version of Tim Duncan who quietly led the team for 19 seasons.