Former Kansas University point guard Kevin Pritchard has joined the scouting staff of the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.

“It was a pretty easy decision to say yes to the world champions,” said Pritchard, 36, who has resigned his position as coach/general manager of the ABA’s Kansas City Knights and today will hit the road to begin evaluating talent at NBA preseason games.

At KU, Pritchard played for both Spurs general manager R.C. Buford, who was a full-time assistant for coach Larry Brown, and head coach Gregg Popovich, who worked for Brown one year at KU while on sabbatical from Pomona-Pitzer College.

“I loved the Knights,” Pritchard said. “I felt we were starting to build something there, but it was too difficult to say no to R.C. and coach ‘Pop.’ They are my mentors, guys I’ve looked up to for many years. R.C. is the hottest GM in the business, and coach ‘Pop’ is one of the best coaches in the game and has been for many years.

“R.C. called me about six or seven weeks ago and asked me if I’d like to join the staff. Needless to say I was excited and interested in joining such a great organization.”

Pritchard, a Tulsa, Okla., native who has made Lawrence his home the past several years, will continue to reside here with his wife and two children.

“There will be a lot of travel involved,” Pritchard said, “but we will still be able to live here and make it work.”

Pritchard — he started at guard for KU’s 1988 national championship team — led the Knights to a 34-2 record and the 2002 NBA championship.

It is believed former Kansas City Kings player Scott Wedman will take over the duties as Knights’ coach.

“I will miss being on the bench,” said Pritchard, who said he still has a goal of being a head coach, perhaps in the NBA.

“I love the coaching part of it, but I also enjoyed my work in the front office with the Knights. I will get to work on potential trades, scout for potential trades, look for players for the draft. These are huge decisions and I am lucky R.C. and ‘Pop’ think enough of my evaluations to hire me.”

Popovich and Buford were in France for a Spurs’ exhibition game Monday and were unavailable for comment.