Whenever the conversation about who is the greatest basketball player of all time is had, people tend to mention Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Magic Johnson, and everyone seems to forget the greatest power forward of all time, “The Big Fundamental” Tim Duncan.
Some may say his unassuming personality and quiet demeanor is the reason why he is always overlooked. Others may say the fact that he plied his trade for only one team under the same coach, in a structure built to cover his inadequacies and was never put in the position to carry a team are some of the reasons why he will never be considered the GOAT, then again Kobe played for the same team until his retirement but we do occasionally make a case for him to be considered the greatest of all time.
Timothy Theodore Duncan was born in the US Virgin Islands to immigrant parents from Anguilla. Tim was considered to be an intelligent child and his childhood dream was to be an Olympic swimmer. Tim’s dream was cut short when Hurricane Hugo destroyed the only Olympic-sized pool on the island and his fear of sharks prevented him from swimming in the ocean. After the passing of his mother at age 14, Duncan was encouraged by his in-law to turn to basketball to relieve his pain. Duncan averaged 25 points per game in high school. Duncan stayed in college for four years which is atypical of NBA stars, during that period he was a two-time ACC player of the year and a three-time NABC Defensive Player. Duncan was drafted in 1997 by the San Antonio Spurs. In his 19 years playing for Spurs, he averaged 19 points per game, 10.8 rebounds per game,
and 3 assists per game. Throughout his career, he scored 26,496 points(18th all-time), rebounded 15,091(7th all-time), and assisted 4,225 times. He won the NBA championship 5 times of which he was the finals MVP on 3 occasions, he was the league’s most valuable player twice, a 15-time all-star, made the all-NBA first team 10 times, the all-NBA second team 3 times, the NBA all-defensive first team 8 times, the NBA all-defensive second team 7 times and he was the rookie of the year in 1997. Duncan has his number 21 jersey retired by both the San Antonio Spurs and his former college.
Putting Duncan’s career in perspective, he played 19 seasons putting him behind Kobe, Kareem, and Lebron, and won five titles in his 6 trips to the NBA finals in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. Only Kareem Abdul Jabbar has a greater span
from his last championship to his first(1971,1988). Duncan is only behind Jordan, Russel, and Abdul Jabbar in rings has the same as Magic and Kobe, has one more than Lebron, and two more than Bird.
Duncan can successfully eliminate a majority of the GOAT contenders – including Bird and Magic who do not match in titles or did not have the healthy longevity he had. He can even go further and eliminate GOATs like Russel who played in a vastly different era with lesser teams, fewer talents, and shorter playoff rounds.
Consensus on who is the greatest player of all time may never be reached because I think that everyone’s choice will be purely based on emotions and bias, but I pray the Big Fundamental will always be considered.
Author-Ahanta Bred
