Tim Duncan’s farewell letter to Spurs fans. The NBA legend’s curtain call on his illustrious career caused nearly the entire city of San Antonio to come out in droves outside the Alamo Dome-the original arena where the Spurs played before moving to the AT&T Center in 2002-like they had just won their sixth NBA title. He has recently chose to retire, and no doubt his knees had a part to play in that decision.
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Yet, even though last season wasn’t that enjoyable for him, Duncan is still in awe of all he’s accomplished in his career. On Monday, upon learning of Duncan’s retirement, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant told ESPN’s Marc Stein via Twitter, “More cutthroat than people give him credit for”. He was also the National Basketball Association finals MVP in 1999, 2003, and 2005. And when the game was over, Duncan waved to the visiting crowd and pointed a finger toward the roof as he headed to the locker room, a rare signal from one of the league’s most stoic superstars.
And while San Antonio wound up seeing its season end, the Spurs only made that game interesting after falling far behind early on because of Duncan’s iron will driving them back into it the way he’d led the Spurs to a thousand-plus wins over his 19 National Basketball Association seasons.
Last season, Duncan was hobbled by a sore right knee and played in only 61 games, averaging 8.6 points and 7.3 rebounds.
Prior to the NBA, Duncan enjoyed a successful career at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
As to what Duncan will be doing in his post-retirement life, he’ll probably spend most of his time at one his Black Jack Speed Shop branches in San Antonio. As the season passed Duncan’s stats grew.
The best examples of a Tim Duncan today would probably be Steph Curry, who gets extra points for a lot of his off the court activities with fans and LeBron James, although he losses a few points for that sumo hand powder thing he does before tip-off.
That next season they went to the playoffs for the first time under Popovich. His decline in stats can be attributed to the offense running through Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
Duncan is leaving. Other than that, nothings changing.
Duncan’s announcement Monday marks the end of an era for the Spurs. He is leaving the same way he spent his National Basketball Association career, and that is low key with no fuss.
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The Spurs reached the play-offs in every one of his 19 seasons. When people ask me what’s the one player I’m looking forward to playing against I say Tim Duncan.
