The San Antonio Spurs won a franchise-best 67 regular season games, compiling an NBA record-matching 40-1 record on their home floor, but their 2015-16 campaign came to a sudden and unexpectedly early end Thursday night in Oklahoma City, and we may have just witnessed Tim Duncan play basketball for the final time in his brilliant 19-year career.
Neither Tim or head coach Gregg Popovich are prepared to announce that this is it for the future Hall of Famer. Not yet, anyway.
Timmy talks with the media postgamehttps://t.co/cvRL5nvjL2
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 13, 2016
Shoot your shot Mr. Journalist, shoot your shot. 😂 https://t.co/1eM4x5B5mI
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 13, 2016
Duncan, 40, put up a valiant 19 points and five rebounds in the Thunder’s series-clinching 113-99 win but Father Time remains unbeaten.
Tim 🙁 https://t.co/tXtBtLrJOt
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) May 13, 2016
The greatest power forward in League history says he needs to take some time to process everything before a decision on his future is made.
Per the Express-News:
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich approached Tim Duncan before the start of the fourth quarter Thursday, and asked the kind of obvious question he would have batted away had it come from a reporter with a microphone. […] “He asked if I wanted to play,” Duncan recounted later, after his season and perhaps career had ended. “I said I always want to play.”
Duncan had 19 points and played 35 minutes, including the entirety of a fourth quarter that seemed close to producing a miraculous comeback.
Duncan and (Manu) Ginobili, 38, own player options for next season. Retirement isn’t a given for either, but it is a strong possibility for both. […] “I’m still proud of having played with those guys for so many years and winning so many games,” Ginobili said. “It’s the reason why you always want to come back and keep being a part of this.”
