Spurs’ Tim Duncan, 5x Champ, Retires

By Ananth Pandian/CBSSports.com – Tim Duncan, regarded as the best power forward in NBA history, has announced his retirement from the San Antonio Spurs. And true to the form, the always understated Duncan announced his retirement with a simple team press release:

“San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan announced that he will retire after 19 seasons with the organization. Since drafting Duncan, the Spurs won five championships and posted a 1,072-438 regular season record, giving the team a .710 winning percentage, which is the best 19-year stretch in NBA history and was the best in all of the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB over the last 19 years.”

Duncan spent his entire 19-year career with the Spurs, winning five championships, two regular season MVPs and three Finals MVPs. The 15-time All-Star, drafted No. 1 overall from Wake Forest in 1997, averaged 19 points (while shooting 50.8 percent from the floor), 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.17 blocks throughout his career.

Duncan hasn’t been in his prime for quite some time now but he’s was still a very effective player late in his career. Especially on the defensive end, where last season Duncan — according to the Spurs — led the NBA in Defensive RPM (5.41). Last season at 40 years old, Duncan averaged a very productive 8.6 points and 7.3 rebounds in 25.2 minutes a game.

Duncan retiring signals an end of an era in San Antonio. The Big 3 of Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker is now no more and San Antonio will now continue to build around Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.  The Spurs should still be one of the top teams in the league without Duncan, but his absence, especially from a leadership standpoint, will surely be missed. But all good things can’t last forever and the Spurs should be able to move on rather quickly under the guidance of coach Gregg Popovich.