Five-time NBA champion Tim Duncan retires after 19 years with San Antonio Spurs

Calling it a day: After 19 years at the top Duncan has retired
J Pat Carter/Getty Images
James Benge11 July 2016

Five-time NBA champion Tim Duncan has announced his retirement after 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.

The 40-year-old power forward/centre bows out after one of the greatest careers in basketball history. His winning percentage (.710) is the greatest 19-year stretch in NBA history.

Duncan holds the joint record for All-NBA Team selections at 15, the most All-Defensive Team honours and was named league MVP in 2002 and 2003.

A five-time NBA champion, placing him joint-14th on the list of most successful players, Duncan was awarded the finals MVP crown in 1999, 2003 and 2005.

Despite being part of a Spurs side that won 67 regular season games in 2014/15 Duncans’s NBA career ended in disappointment, with the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminating San Antonio from playoff contention in the Western Conference semi-finals.

San Antonio had expected Duncan, who opted out of the final season of his current contract, to retire and made moves to strengthen their squad by bringing in free agent centre Pau Gasol, himself a two-time NBA champion.

However with or without Duncan the Spurs hopes of reaching next year’s NBA finals seemed slim after the Golden State Warriors, fresh from the greatest regular season in the league’s history, added star forward and 2014 MVP Kevin Durant to their formidable lineup as they bid to go one better than their final defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Duncan, noted for his quiet demeanour on and off the court, did not release a statement on his retirement.

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