San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan retires after 19 incredible seasons, including five NBA titles and two MVP honours
Forward calls time on glittering career spanning almost two decades in Texas, including 15 All Star game appearances
SAN ANTONIO SPURS legend Tim Duncan has finally called time on a glittering 19-year NBA career.
The American forward, 40, made the decision to retire from his Hall of Fame basketball career on Monday morning in just the same way he had played the sport - without controversy, quietly, peerlessly...
Duncan - the No1 overall draft pick all the way back in 1997 - spent nigh-on two decades at the pinnacle of the sport, winning an incredible five NBA championships, while being named the league's Most Valuable Player twice in 2002 and 2003.
The 6ft 11in forward-centre - nicknamed the Big Fundamental - was also named NBA Finals MVP three times - in 1999, 2003 and 2005 - while being voted into the All Star roster an unbelievable 15 times.
One of the greatest big men of all time, Duncan retires the 14th highest points scorer of all time with an outrageous 26,496 points, while ending sixth in rebounds with 15,091.
Duncan's legacy goes on, ending fifth in blocks with 3,064 and seventh on the overall games played list on 1,392.
He remains to this day one of only THREE players to win over 1,000 NBA games - alongside legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parrish.
Duncan eventually hung up his sneakers boasting a sublime average of 19 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, while going even better in the Playoffs, sitting on 21.2 points and 11.7 boards per outing.
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Arguably the greatest PF to ever play the game - up there with the likes of Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Dirk Nowitzki - his long-time coach Gregg Popovich said the Spurs' success was in direct correlation to the level of Duncan's talent and attitude.
Popovich once said: "He's such an unselfish player, he makes players better.
"He allows them to be better players because of his understanding of spatial relationships on the floor and time and score in a game, and he brings it every day.
"Practice, he's there early and late, even at this age, so it sets quite an example, certainly makes my job easier.”
Following his most recent title in 2014 - when his Spurs topped a LeBron James-led Miami Heat - Duncan waxed lyrical on the team that lived in his heart for nearly 20 years.
He said: "It's amazing to think about having done this five times.
“The kind of company I'm in, the people who have had such amazing careers and having had the ability to have one, and for the stretch, and the span between them, to still be in a situation where we can win or I can win another championship is just an amazing blessing, and it's not taken lightly.
“I'm blessed to be in the position that I can sit here and be asked that question and to be on a championship team and to even think about what that means.
"I can't explain. It's amazing to be a part of this for so long.”
We couldn't put it better ourselves... To be able to watch Tim Duncan do his work for 19 seasons has been truly an honour.