Timothy Theodore Duncan was born on April 25,1976 and is an American former professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association.
72 Facts About Tim Duncan
2.
Tim Duncan spent his entire 19-year playing career with the Spurs, and was considered a key factor for their success during the 2000s and early 2010s.
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Tim Duncan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
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In college, Tim Duncan played for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and in his senior year, he received the John Wooden Award and was named the Naismith College Player of the Year and the USBWA College Player of the Year.
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Tim Duncan primarily played the power forward position and played center throughout his career.
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Tim Duncan is a five-time NBA champion, a two-time NBA MVP, a three-time NBA Finals MVP, a 15-time NBA All-Star, and the only player to be selected to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams for 13 consecutive seasons.
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Tim Duncan was born and raised in Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands.
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Tim Duncan is the son of immigrants from Anguilla: Ione, a professional midwife, and William Duncan, a mason.
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Tim Duncan has two older sisters, Cheryl and Tricia, and an older brother, Scott, who became a film director and cinematographer.
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In school, Tim Duncan was a bright pupil and dreamt of becoming an Olympic-level swimmer like Tricia.
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Tim Duncan's parents were very supportive, and Duncan excelled at swimming, becoming a teenage standout in the 50-, 100-, and 400-meter freestyle and aiming to go to the 1992 Olympic Games as a member of the United States Team.
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In 1989, after Hurricane Hugo destroyed the island's only Olympic-sized swimming pool, Tim Duncan was forced to swim in the ocean instead, and his fear of sharks ruined his enthusiasm for the sport.
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Tim Duncan was dealt another emotional blow when his mother died of breast cancer one day before his 14th birthday.
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Tim Duncan was chosen to represent the US in the 1994 Goodwill Games.
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Meanwhile, Tim Duncan worked towards a degree in psychology and took classes in anthropology and Chinese literature.
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Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West suggested that Tim Duncan might become the top pick in the 1995 NBA draft if he went early; however, Tim Duncan said that he had no intention of going pro before graduation, despite the NBA's plan to add a rookie salary cap in 1996.
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Tim Duncan ended the season averaging 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, was named Defensive Player of the Year, and became the third-best shot-blocker in NCAA history with 3.98 blocks per game.
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Tim Duncan was voted All-ACC First Team, a feat he would repeat in his two remaining years at Wake Forest.
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The Demon Deacons won the ACC Finals again, but in the Sweet 16, Tim Duncan came down with the flu, and his team missed the Final Four.
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Tim Duncan finished his senior season with career high averages of 20.8 points, 14.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting.
21.
Tim Duncan earned first-team All-American honors for the second time and was a unanimous pick for both the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Naismith College Player of the Year.
22.
Tim Duncan was voted ACC Player of the Year again and, based on the votes of sportscasters and newswriters, won the 1997 John Wooden Award as the NCAA's best overall male player.
23.
In contrast to contemporary prep-to-pro players like Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan stayed in college for a full four years.
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In college, Tim Duncan co-authored a chapter in the social psychology book Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors with Mark Leary.
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In 2009, Tim Duncan was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame.
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Tim Duncan was voted to the 1998 NBA All-Star Game by coaches.
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Tim Duncan gives all the extra effort and work and wants to become a better player.
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The Spurs qualified for the 1998 NBA playoffs as the fifth seed, but Tim Duncan had a bad first half in his first playoff game against the Phoenix Suns, causing Suns coach Danny Ainge to play Tim Duncan with less defensive pressure.
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Tim Duncan averaged 23.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, earning another pair of All-NBA and All-Defense First Team nods.
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Tim Duncan injured his meniscus shortly before the end of the regular season and was unable to play in even one postseason game.
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Tim Duncan was again named to the All-NBA and All-Defensive First Teams.
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Sports Illustrated described the series as a "[m]erciless mismatch", and Tim Duncan was criticized as "silent when the Spurs need him most".
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Tim Duncan averaged career highs in scoring and rebounding, and averaged 3.7 assists and 2.5 blocks per game, both career highs.
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In that game, Tim Duncan recorded 22 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks for the Spurs.
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Tim Duncan averaged 23.3 points, a career-high 12.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.9 blocks per game, and earned All-NBA and All-Defensive First Team recognition, resulting in his second NBA Most Valuable Player Award.
36.
On July 16,2003, Tim Duncan signed a seven-year, $122 million contract with the Spurs.
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In retrospect, Robinson commented that at first, Duncan was reluctant to step into the void, still needing some time to truly develop his leadership skills.
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Statistically though, Tim Duncan remained strong; after another convincing season with averages of 22.3 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 blocks, he led the Spurs into the Western Conference Semifinals.
39.
Tim Duncan was the fulcrum of virtually every key play down the stretch", and coach Popovich added: "[Duncan's] complete game is so sound, so fundamental, so unnoticed at times, because if he didn't score, people think, 'Well, he didn't do anything'.
40.
Tim Duncan averaged 20.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.4 blocks per game in the regular season, and was selected as a Western Conference starter for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, his ninth appearance in the event.
41.
Tim Duncan proclaimed that that championship was "the best" of his four championships; however, he acknowledged he played "sub-par" and thus received only one vote for NBA Finals MVP from a panel of ten.
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Tim Duncan's colleagues were more appreciative of Duncan; among others, ex-teammate David Robinson referred to the Spurs titles as the "Tim Duncan era", and lauded his leadership.
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Tim Duncan just happens to be one of the greatest players of all time.
44.
In Game 1, Duncan set the tone with a 40-point game and a rare three-pointer that sent the game into double overtime.
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Tim Duncan then recorded 20 points and 15 rebounds in Game 6, and the Spurs relied on their experience to seal the series in Game 7.
46.
On January 21,2010, Tim Duncan was named as the starting forward for the West for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.
47.
On November 30,2010, Tim Duncan recorded his third career triple-double against the Golden State Warriors.
48.
On May 31,2012, in the third game of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tim Duncan set the record for most career blocks in playoffs history, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
49.
On July 11,2012, Tim Duncan agreed to re-sign with the Spurs.
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Tim Duncan returned to the All-Star line-up and was named to the All-NBA First Team.
51.
Tim Duncan finished the regular season with 23,785 career points, which broke George Gervin's record for most points in a Spurs uniform.
52.
In that game, Tim Duncan scored 25 points in the first half, his biggest haul in a half of an NBA Finals game.
53.
Tim Duncan scored 22 points and passed Kevin Garnett to move into 14th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
54.
On July 9,2015, Tim Duncan re-signed with the Spurs to a two-year deal.
55.
On November 2,2015, in a win over the New York Knicks, Tim Duncan recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in his NBA-record 954th victory with one team, surpassing John Stockton's 953 wins with the Utah Jazz.
56.
Tim Duncan extended his mark as the NBA's career leader in victories with one team.
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In 1998, Tim Duncan was selected as one of the last two players for the United States national team for the World Basketball Championship.
58.
In 2003, Tim Duncan was a member of the USA team that recorded ten wins and qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
59.
Tim Duncan started all the games he played in and averaged team bests of 15.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.56 bpg, while shooting 60.7 percent from the field.
60.
Apart from his impressive statistics, Tim Duncan has gained a reputation as a clutch player, as evidenced by his three NBA Finals MVP awards and his playoff career averages being higher than his regular season statistics.
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In 2002, Tim Duncan was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team honoring the 50 greatest players in ACC history.
62.
Tim Duncan has been named to 15 NBA All-Star teams, 15 All-NBA Teams, and 15 All-Defensive Teams.
63.
Tim Duncan was named by the Association for Professional Basketball Research as one of the "100 Greatest Professional Basketball Players of the 20th Century", and is the youngest player on that list.
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In 2009, Duncan was ranked 8th by Slam magazine in their list of the top 50 NBA players of all time, while Sports Illustrated named him its NBA Player of the Decade.
65.
Tim Duncan was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
66.
On July 22,2019, the San Antonio Spurs announced that Tim Duncan was named an assistant coach.
67.
On November 12,2020, Tim Duncan stepped down as assistant coach of the Spurs.
68.
Tim Duncan married Amy Sherrill in July 2001, and had two children before their divorce in August 2013.
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In those two years, Tim Duncan was named by Sporting News as one of the "Good Guys" in sports.
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Tim Duncan has supported the Children's Bereavement Center, the Children's Center of San Antonio and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center.
71.
In 2015, Tim Duncan sued his former investment adviser, claiming over $20 million in losses.
72.
In March 2020, Tim Duncan offered to pay for airline tickets for college students in the US Virgin Islands to travel home during the COVID-19 pandemic.