Getty Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs. (Getty)
It’s hard to argue Duncan isn’t one of the game’s best.
Duncan retired in 2016 and the Spurs retired his No. 21 jersey in Dec. 2016.
He left the game with a ton of accolades too! Duncan is a 5-time NBA champion, 3-time NBA Finals MVP, 2-time NBA MVP, a 15-time NBA All-Star, 10-time All-NBA First Team honoree, an 8-time NBA All-Defensive first team member and much more.
Duncan will surely be a lock for the Basketball Hall of Fame once he is eligible.
In the era of who is the greatest of all time, here’s the million dollar question:
Where does Tim Duncan fit in that landscape?
“Yeah when you start doing all time players and start picking your top five, your top ten or your top fifteen whatever Tim Duncan needs to show up in that conversation,” NBA Hall of Famer, Julius Erving told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
There is no doubt Duncan ranks among the all-time players.
Duncan’s former teammate, Devin Brown backs Dr. J’s assessment.
“I’ll tell you what, he definitely is number one, as far as all-time, at the power forward position, and I don’t say that to disrespect Karl Malone because I have caught an elbow from him, and I don’t want to get another one because that’s nothing pretty, ” Devin Brown told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
GettyKarl Malone of the Utah Jazz (R) shoots over Dennis Rodman (L) of the Chicago Bulls during 1997 NBA Finals.
“But the thing I want to say about Tim is he doesn’t get a lot of respect when you talk about top five players of all time, but the man does have five rings and he did it his way. Low-key, there were so many times, sitting on the bench with guys like Kevin Willis and Robert Horry, and all of a sudden, one of those guys’ll look up and say, ‘damn, Tim’s got 25 and 20?’ and we’ve been sitting there watching the whole time and you wouldn’t see it.”
Brown won a championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2015. Brown says Duncan’s body of work makes him top notch. “He’d just go about his business, he’s just out there playing and he’s playing well almost all the time, and he just did it his way,” Brown told Scoop B Radio.
“It was great to be a part of that, but I definitely, in my personal top five, he’s there, you know? You just can’t take away what he’s done, and I know people are gonna say, ‘oh, he’s from San Antonio’ and this and that, I understand that. But five championships on a small-market team, that’s something to be very proud of, whether I was from San Antonio or not, so he’s definitely in my top five, and like I said, I’m not trying to sound like a San Antonian, but he’s definitely in my top five.”