A now-retired Tim Duncan honored longtime San Antonio Spurs teammate Manu Ginobili during his jersey retirement ceremony at the AT&T Center on Thursday, right after the Spurs dispatched the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The five-time NBA champion described the moment in which he first heard of Ginobili, a rather unflattering, yet hilarious anecdote:
“I got that call from Pop. Every year I watched the draft. I'd sit at home and I'd tell everybody all day long, ‘I'm not watching the draft, I'm not gonna do this,'” Duncan said. “I sit at home, I watch the draft and we pick people that I've never heard of. Sitting there … Emanuel Gee-no-bee-lee (audience laughs).
“Who did we just pick?
“Oh yeah, he's gonna be great, he's this, he's that.”
“Okay Pop, whatever.”
"Who did we just pick?!"
Tim Duncan's story from when Manu got drafted is comedy 🤣 pic.twitter.com/IujAr7FkAq
— ESPN (@espn) March 29, 2019
Duncan's anecdote was enough to make Gregg Popovich bust out laughing during the ceremony, a rare sight in itself. All while Ginobili recalled those tender moments when he first heard his name called by former commissioner David Stern in the 1999 NBA Draft.
It's worthy to note that Ginobili was drafted only a month after the Spurs had conquered their first title with Duncan and David Robinson leading the way, riding pretty high spirits upon their victory.
Ginobili was a relative unknown then when he was selected with the 57th overall pick, choosing to stay in Italy for several more years with Reggio Calabria and Kinder Bologna, grabbing all sorts of accolades in the EuroLeague, along with tournament MVP and becoming the EuroLeague's top scorer in 2001 and 2002 before joining the Spurs that same year.
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