Tributes came pouring down for the San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan after he announced that he’ll retire after 19 seasons with the organization.
In his tribute to the iconic player, French professional basketball player, Boris Diaw tweeted: “Dear Tim Duncan. Thank you for the impact you had on the game of Basketball and playing next to you was a great experience. #Respect21″
The famous Basketball player Kobe Bryant tweeted: “Congrats TD #19yrs #GoSpursGo.”
While another Basketballer, Mark Cuban writes on his microblogging handle: “Upset at Tim Duncan we didn’t get to honor him at a Mavs Spurs game. Happy I’ve had the opportunity to witness his greatness so often”
Another tweet comes from Ty Lawson: “Congrats Tim Duncan on a historic career! Thank you for all the good you have done for this game!”
Another Iconic Basketballer, Steve Kerr, writes: “Upset at Tim Duncan we didn’t get to honor him at a Mavs Spurs game. Happy I’ve had the opportunity to witness his greatness so often”
The whole of Basketball fraternity has come down praising and paying tribute to the legend of Tim Duncan, a prolific basketball player for two decades.
Once they got Duncan in their team, San Antonio Spurs won five championships and posted a 1,072-438 regular season record, giving the team a .710 winning percentage, the best 19-year stretch in NBA history. This winning percentage was the best in all of the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB over the last 19 years.
Now, the records:
- Only player in the league history to start and win a title in three different decades.
- At least a .600 winning percentage for the team in each of Duncan’s 19 seasons.
- Duncan helped San Antonio reach the playoffs in each of his 19 seasons.
- Five championships and a 1,072-438 regular season record.
- Just the third player in league history to reach 1,000 career wins.
- Only player to reach 1,000 wins with one team.
- A franchise-best 67-15 record.
- One of two players in NBA history to record at least 26,000 points, 15,000 rebounds and 3,000 blocks in his career, the other being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
- 15 All-NBA Team selections (tied for most all-time) and 15 NBA All-Defensive Team honors (most all-time) garnering both honors in the same season 15 times, the most in league history.
- Chosen NBA MVP twice (2002, 2003) and NBA Finals MVP three times (1999, 2003 and 2005).
- Only player in NBA history to play over 9,000 career minutes in the playoffs, Duncan ranks first all-time in postseason double-doubles (164) and blocks (568), third in rebounds (2,859) and sixth in points (5,172).
- Spurs all-time NBA leader in total points (26,496), rebounds (15,091), blocked shots (3,020), minutes (47,368) and games played (1,392), as well as third in assists (4,225).
- Duncan is fifth all-time in double-doubles (841) and blocks, sixth in rebounding and 14th in scoring.
The 40-year-old Duncan comes off of a season in which he led the NBA in Defensive RPM (5.41). The 15-time All-Star appeared in a total of 1,392 games and averaged 19.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.17 blocks in 34.0 minutes. The American shot .506 (10,285-20,334) from the floor and .696 (5,896-8,468) from the free throw line.
Duncan is part of the NBA record for most wins by a trio along with teammates Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, in both the regular season (575) and postseason (126). Duncan and Coach Gregg Popovich of Spurs have the most wins by a player-coach duo in NBA history (1,001) and the Spurs forward finishes his career in San Antonio as among just three players in NBA history, along with John Stockton and Kobe Bryant, to spend 19 seasons with a single franchise while the other two held on to their franchises, Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers respectively.