Player Wives & Girlfriends

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If the Spurs dynasty run is to continue, one of the pieces they will have to replace sooner than later is Tim Duncan. Timmy's minutes are way down as the team tries to keep him fresh for the playoffs. Which great foresight, San Antonio just might have drafted Duncan's heir apparent when the took a flyer on Tiago Splitter.

Here was a lot of buzz surrounding Splitter when it was assumed he would declare for the 2006 draft. He ended up passing as teams were leery of the buyout price to free him from his Spanish league team. Flash forward to 2007, when the Spurs took him at the end of the 1st round. And then they waited. And waited some more. He finally signed a contract during the summer of 2010 to bring him state side and into the Spurs lineup.

Signing his first NBA contract wasn't only be thing for Splitter in 2010 - he also got married. Tiago Splitter's wife Amaia Splitter dawned a white dress on July 3rd, 2010 and joined her husband at the altar. Presumably the couple met while Splitter was playing in Spain, as her hometown is Victoria, Spain. Their first child (son Benjamin) was born in August 2012.

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Lets give credit where credit is due - the Spurs were THE team of the 2000's. With all due respect to the Lakers, San Antonio was more consistent and never lost in the Finals, besting the LA several time on their way to a title.

Gregg Popovich has been a constant during this run, leading the helm in San Antonio since 1996. Sure, it's helped having consummate pro/candidate for best power forward of all time Tim Duncan, but Pops has definitely earned his coaching stripes. He's pieced together teams around his franchise player, especially taking advantage of the uptick in foreign talent (Tony Parker and Manu Gonobli being the best examples of that).

While he has been a rock for the Spurs for over a decade, Gregg Popovich's wife Erin Popovich has been his rock for even longer. They have been married (yes, married, not dating) for over 30 years. That's pretty incredible in our books. Together they have two children.

When not busy telling her husband to be nicer during in-game interviews (only Craig Sager is happy about that), Erin Popovich has spent time working with local charities such as the San Antonio Food Bank.

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I recently read an article with Matt Bonner's wife, Nadia Bonner, in which the author mentioned that Matt is so popular in his home state of New Hampshire he could run for Governor. Nadia shrugged it off and said she's grown fond of New Hampshire and would love to be first lady.

I'm here to tell you this, as someone who grew up about 45 minutes south of where Matt played in high school, if Matt ran for Governor of New Hampshire he would win. In a landslide.

That is how popular Matt Bonner is in his home state. New Hampshire is known for a lot of things, first to hold a primary, fantastic skiing, and a great state slogan "live free or die" but one thing they are not known for is basketball. Take a look at the list of NBA players who played at some point in New Hampshire and you'll see exactly what I mean. So when Matt's playing career is done and he wants to run for Governor (a 3.9 GPA at Florida won't hurt his cause either) Nadia better start sizing up property in the Concord area because Matt is going to dominate. I didn't take the time to look this up but I feel pretty confident in saying Nadia would instantly become the hottest first lady New Hampshire has ever had.

Nadia, a Canadian native, met Matt while he was starting his NBA career in Toronto playing for the Raptors. Matt is so well known these days for his time with San Antonio I had to double check that Matt was even on Toronto. The couple was introduced by a mutual friend and quickly fell for each other. They were married in August of 2008 the couple now has two children, Evangeline-Vesper (E.V) and August.