Gregg Popovich to coach 2016 NBA All-Star Game

Steve Kerr is in full-on troll mode these days.

First, he said that Tim Duncan was 57 years old and then proceeded to have his team beat the Spurs so badly that not even the biggest Tim Duncan believer could make a credible argument that an active Big Fun would have turned that game around.

Now, in a longer play that started with Kerr coming back before the Warriors played the Pacers on Friday, we officially know that Gregg Popovich will have to coach the fourth All-Star Game of his career. That's because Steve Kerr is ineligible to coach the All-Star Game since he did so last year and so the job goes to the coach of the team with the conference's second-best record.

As we can all imagine, Popovich would most likely prefer to be doing something else that week.

Well played, Steve. Ball's yours, Pop.

We'll have to wait until Thursday to find out if the league's coaches elect to have any Spurs join Kawhi Leonard in Toronto.

Here's the official release:

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich will coach the Western Conference All-Stars in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game, to be televised by TNT at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 14 from Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Head coaches whose teams have the best records in each conference following the games played two weeks prior to the All-Star Game serve as the All-Star Game head coaches, but no head coach is allowed to participate in two consecutive All-Star Games.

Interim head coach Luke Walton led the Golden State Warriors to a 39-4 record in the season's first 43 games prior to the Jan. 22 return of head coach Steve Kerr. Despite Golden State holding the conference's best record (41-4, .911), Kerr is ineligible for the coaching honor because he led last year's West All-Stars. Popovich's Spurs (38-7, .844) have clinched the next best record in the Western Conference, earning the five-time NBA Champion his fourth nod as the head coach of the West.

The 65th NBA All-Star Game will be the first All-Star Game held outside of the U.S. The game will be seen by fans in more than 200 countries and territories and will be heard in more than 40 languages. TNT will televise the All-Star Game in the U.S. for the 14th consecutive year, marking Turner Sports' 31st year of NBA All-Star coverage.