Unless you have been living under a rock over the last week, you will probably know that San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan retired from the NBA.
The decision from the Big Fundamental caused the NBA masses to come out and pay tribute to his incredible career. One of many that made an effort to express their regret that Duncan is calling it a day was his long time coach, Gregg Popovich.
Pop was clearly emotional when speaking to the media shortly after Duncan’s announcement, but it could have been a whole lot worse.
Argentinian shooting guard Manu Ginobili, who was Tim Duncan’s brother in arms for four of his NBA championship runs, re-signed with the Spurs in recent weeks. The Philadelphia 76ers had shown an interest in the 2004 Olympic champion, which pushed the asking price of his one-year deal up.
Since his decision to return, Ginobili spoke to The Vertical’s Michael Lee, making it clear that he wasn’t really ever going elsewhere.
“It (Sixers) was not my main option. I never wanted to leave San Antonio. But I had to listen to all the options that are there.”
Popovich made it abundantly clear that if they were losing Duncan, losing another much-loved veteran in the same summer would have been destructive.
“Losing Tim made it absolutely imperative that we keep Ginobili. To lose them both at the same time, it would've been like death by a thousand cuts. It would've been awful.”
It seems as though, much like Duncan, Ginobili will be ending his NBA career in the same place he started it.
[button width=”full” button size=”bigger” color=”custom” align=”center” textcolor=”#ffffff” texthcolor=”#ffffff” bgcolor=”#8b0000″ link=”https://clutchpoints.com/manu-ginobili-never-wanted-leave-san-antonio-intrigued-sixers-offer/”]NEXT: Manu Ginobili never wanted to leave San Antonio, but was intrigued by Sixers’ offer[/button]
Follow Us
Subscribe
