Tim Duncan ends his 19-year basketball career. (Photo : Stringer/Stacy Revere)
Tim Duncan ended his 19-year illustrious career-marked with five NBA championships, two league MVPs, three Finals MVPs, 15 All-Star appearances and Rookie of the Year award among many others-in the most "Tim Duncan" way possible: a simple press release posted by the San Antonio Spurs on their website. To emphasize how long Duncan had been in the NBA, video-game website Kotaku compared his first video game appearance and his last.
Drafted number one overall in 1997 by the San Antonio Spurs, Duncan's first video game appearance was in NBA Live '98 for the PlayStation 1. And since the 2015-2016 season was his last, this means that his final video game appearances, as an active player, would be in NBA 2k16 and NBA Live '16.
How video game graphics evolved since 1997 till the present time-from pixels to HD-may be a testament to how long Duncan had been in the league and, more significantly, how he was able to maintain his effectiveness on the court even at the twilight of his career.
With Duncan and Kobe Bryant gone, Kevin Garnett will be the only active player next season to have been playing since 1997, unless, of course, veteran sharpshooter Ray Allen, who is rumored to join either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors, makes a return.
Duncan's last game was a loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder where the Spurs were knocked out of contention during Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference Semi-Finals. Clearly, the Spurs' offensive harmony could not overcome the firepower which Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Thunder's young core provided.
And speaking of KD, the San Antonio Spurs were supposedly one of the favorites during free agency to sign Durant until he chose to form the "Splash Family" with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in the Golden State Warriors. Had the Spurs been able to convince Durant to sign with them, there's a huge chance that Duncan would have stayed for at least one more season as they would have been in a good position to beat the Warriors and return to the Finals. But reality is that the NBA bids farewell to another legend, to one of the classiest athlete there is, and to the greatest power forward to ever set foot on the court-to stretch it further, one of the greatest to play the game.
Check out Tim Duncan's career highlights in the video below.
