In the days after the Spurs’ season ended in a Western Conference finals sweep in May, soon-to-be 40-year-old guard Manu Ginobili met with coach Gregg Popovich to talk about the future.

Deep down, there was a part of Ginobili that hoped Popovich would help make his retirement decision for him. Instead, what Popovich told Ginobili complicated everything.

“He told me that he wanted me to continue and he needed me on the team,” Ginobili wrote Thursday in his semi-regular column for the Argentinian publication La Nacion. “If he did not want me, it would have been easier for me.”

Ginobili’s written remarks were his first since news broke earlier this week he intended to return for a 16th season with the Spurs.

The team is expected to announce a new deal with the venerable shooting guard in short order.

In his latest piece for La Nacion — datelined “IBIZA, Spain” where his family has been vacationing — Ginobili admitted wrestling with this summer’s annual return-or-retirement decision was different than the ones that came before.

“I was much slower to make the determination than the other times, because I had more doubts,” Ginobili wrote. “I wanted to … see how I felt, what was happening to me and how many questions came up.”

Being wanted has always been important to Ginobili, who turns 40 on July 28. He did not want to return to the Spurs as a burden or a token.

He also did not want to retire with basketball still inside him.

“I accepted because it is a great honor to be with such a franchise, at 40 years old, feeling important, with people who tell me that I am still important to the team,” Ginobili wrote. “Everything I had in mind if I retired, I can postpone for another time. If I retired and took a year (off), I would not be able to compete again at 41.”

Ginobili cited the return of point guard Patty Mills, nearly 12 years his junior, as a factor in his choice to play again.

Since Mills’ arrival in 2011, the two have become steady friends and running buddies on the road.

“He is my link with the new generation,” Ginobili wrote. “My connection with him is very important … I think even he gave me a push (to come back).”

Ginobili also credits his wife, Many, with giving him the go-ahead to make another go-round.

The couple has three sons, twin 7-year-olds and a 3-year-old.

“Of course, we are curious about what having all the time available for us might be like,” Ginobili wrote. “But we are good in San Antonio and we have the kids in school, it is not a problem to continue.”

There was a time when Ginobili could not have imagined having such a choice at age 40.

His breakneck and at times reckless style of play long ago earned him the nickname “El Contusion” from ex-teammate Brent Barry, and cast doubt on his body’s ability to hold up into his late 30s.

However, Ginobili felt good for the most part last season, appearing in 69 mostly injury-free games.

That was no small consideration for a player who will once again be the NBA’s second-oldest player behind Sacramento’s Vince Carter next season.

Ginobili averaged 7.5 points and shot 39 percent in a carefully managed bench role he said suits him at this stage.

“I have fewer responsibilities as before,” Ginobili wrote. “It is ideal for me.”

In the weeks to come, Ginobili will return from overseas and — in his words — “prepare the machinery” for a season he once could not have seen coming.

“If 10 years ago someone was telling me, ‘You’re going to play until 40,’ ” Ginobili wrote, “I would have said he was crazy.”

Instead, that’s Ginobili, still crazy for at least one more year.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN