It is coming up on 20 years since Gregg Popovich and Jeff Van Gundy went head-to-head in the NBA Finals. It has been more than a decade since the two coaches battled in the same division.

For the future Hall of Famer, it has been too long since he’s seen the former Knicks coach on the sideline.

“He’s better than most of us as a coach. I think most people know that, but that’s not always what gets you hired,” Popovich said before his Spurs lost 130-118 to the Knicks at the Garden on Sunday. “Circumstances, and those sorts of things, and personal situations, and timing has to be right and all that, but he’s certainly somebody who would make a franchise better than they are now.”

Popovich, who is set to coach Team USA in the FIBA World Cup in China, selected Van Gundy — who last coached with the Rockets in 2007 — as his “first choice” to make sure the team qualified for this summer’s championships.

Leading a rotating roster of more than 50 players — largely of G-League fame — Van Gundy enters Monday night’s qualifying finale against Argentina in Greensboro, N.C., with a 9-2 record.

“He was remarkable, spectacular, off the charts, what he did to qualify USA for the world championships,” Popovich said of Van Gundy, who has worked as a television analyst since being fired by the Rockets. “He put together about five different teams, of mostly different players every time, and had a short amount of time to get ready. If they didn’t do well, the U.S. doesn’t go, and he deserves a lot of credit for doing that. I’m very grateful to him for what he did.”