Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Tim Duncan Signs Option
Wake Forest Demon Deacons alum Tim Duncan has at the very least signed a piece of paper saying that he will be back next season with the Spurs.
Former Wake Forest Demon Deacons star Tim Duncan is back on board with the San Antonio Spurs. At least that is what it says on paper according to reports by Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical. The forty year old Duncan has taken his $5.6 million player option for next season, which will at least let potential free agents know that the Spurs still have him as they court other players.
The past few years have been more about the phasing out of Duncan. The Spurs signed big man LaMarcus Aldridge last year with an eye to the future as Duncan’s minutes and production were cut. The future Hall of Famer only averaged eight points and seven rebounds last season, although that was on reduced minutes.
Duncan came back last year to see if he could make a final run at the title with Aldridge, and now this off season may be Duncan deciding to make one final run with Aldridge and whatever big name they can attract to San Antonio. Of course all eyes are on Kevin Durant, but not necessarily just him. Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is rumored to be a target.
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The Spurs are no longer the Duncan-Manu Ginobili-Tony Parker Spurs. Duncan and Ginobili keep hanging around and Parker remains viable, but the team is now the Kawhi Leonard-Aldridge Spurs. Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan were once the stars, but now they are the role players and they accept that. The question is how many of these ‘last roundups’ do they have left?
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Duncan seems willing to play for less and less in order to stick around. His health has been pretty good in the game management system of Greg Popovich. The next big injury might break him, but outside of that it is hard to see why he couldn’t kick it around another year or two. Kobe played nineteen seasons, Duncan is still three seasons short.
Somehow the Duncan-Bryant rivalry for best generational player probably won’t decide what happens to Duncan. He will walk when he feels like it and there may be no other factor that comes into play.