After seeing his teammate of five years and one of the NBA's all-time greats announce his retirement last July, the new leader of the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard, spoke about how he feels about not having Tim Duncan in their lineup anymore.
The usually soft-spoken small forward talked to Melissa Rohlin of the San Antonio Express-News and discussed what he'll miss most with The Big Fundamental:
Kawhi on Tim Duncan: "His personality isn't here, jokes that he makes during practice, that's the things I'm missing right now."
— Melissa Rohlin (@melissarohlin) September 27, 2016
It can be recalled that Duncan recently showed up during the Spurs' practice and head coach Gregg Popovich even joked that he can be the coach of anything as long as he'll be part of the team's coaching staff.
Article Continues Below— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) September 28, 2016
He's far away in the photo, but that's Tim Duncan shooting with Manu pic.twitter.com/GsrvHeiUES
— Melissa Rohlin (@melissarohlin) September 28, 2016
If Duncan ultimately becomes a part of Popovich's staff, it will become a big boost to the team, whose majority has played alongside him. The back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year can continue to learn from the five-time champion and become the best player he can be, and who knows, maybe one of the best ever as well.