San Antonio Spurs to retire Tim Duncan's number on Dec. 18
Surprise! The San Antonio Spurs are going to retire Tim Duncan's number.
The team announced Wednesday that Duncan — a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who retired in July after 19 seasons and five championships — will be honored on Dec. 18 with a special postgame ceremony after the Spurs take on the New Orleans Pelicans.
Duncan will become the eighth player in franchise history to have his number raised up to the AT&T Center rafters, joining Bruce Bowen, George Gervin, Sean Elliot, Avery Johnson, Johnny Moore, James Silas, and David Robinson.
Here's why you should care:
- In addition to the five championships, two NBA MVP Awards and three NBA Finals MVPs, Duncan led the Spurs to a 1,072-438 regular season record, the best in NBA history over 19 seasons.
- He's the only player in NBA history to start — and win — an NBA championship in three separate decades.
- He finished his career with 15 All-NBA Team (tied for most all-time) and 15 All-Defensive Team (most all-time) honors.
- Not only was he the third player in NBA history to reach 1,000 career wins, he was the first player to reach 1,000 wins with one team.
- He's the Spurs' all-time leader in total regular season points (26,496), rebounds (15,091), blocks (3,020), minutes (47,368) and games played (1,392).
► Tim Duncan: A timeline of a legend
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