The greatest San Antonio Spurs player of all-time played extensively with three teammates who are also in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Between David Robinson, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan was asked which one he'd start, which he'd bench and which he'd cut.
The popularized game that centers on sports discussions was one of several questions posed during the premier show of another of Duncan's former teammates.
Richard Jefferson's new “The Richard & Larry Show” on YouTube featured the greatest power forward ever as his first guest. “Larry” represents the Larry O'Brien Trophy awarded to the annual NBA champion. The fabled award was placed in a chair next to Jefferson for the duration of the show.
Start, bench, cut: Spurs Hall of Fame edition
Duncan teamed with David Robinson for six seasons, during which they captured the franchise's first two championships.
The Spurs all-time leader scorer also played with Parker and Ginobili for 14 seasons. When Duncan (the first of the trio to retire) walked away in 2016, the “Big Three” had won 701 games together, including 126 in the playoffs. Their run brought the franchise four titles, including one with Robinson.
A little less than a minute into “The Richard & Larry Show,” Jefferson asked Duncan how he'd rank his three legendary running mates.
T.D. said he'd “start” Robinson. “The Admiral” is widely considered one of the top centers to every play the game. The NBA MVP in 1995, the Navy alum also won Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors during a career that saw ten All-Star appearances and four All-NBA First Team Selections. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 2008, Robinson led the Spurs in scoring Duncan's rookie season (by five-tenths of a point) before helping lead the franchise to the title a year later in 1999. The two-time Olympian closed his NBA career with another championship in his final season.
That 2003 campaign also served as the first in which Duncan teamed with Parker and a rookie Ginobili, whom Duncan chose to “bench.” Perhaps a fitting choice for a Sixth Man of the Year winner who made two All-Star appearances and two All-NBA third teams, averaging 13.3 points over his career before retiring in 2018. The franchise's leader in three-pointers is right there with Duncan in terms of providing some of the biggest moments in Spurs playoff history.
“I'll cut the French boy,” alluding to Tony Parker, is how Duncan rounded out the playful game. After earning All-Rookie first team honors in 2002, the Spurs assists leader made the All-NBA Second Team three times and the Third team once on his way to six All-Star appearances. He won the Finals MVP in 2007, which came after the aforementioned championship in '03 and in between titles in '05 and '14.
Tim Duncan and Richard Jefferson reunited
Duncan and Richard Jefferson have maintained a good relationship since “R.J.”‘s departure as a teammate due to an in-season trade in 2012. It ended a disappointing stint in San Antonio for Jefferson, who had averaged around or above 20 points per game in his first eight years. In two and half seasons with the Spurs, the former Arizona Wildcat never averaged as many as 12.5 points as the Silver and Black failed to win a game beyond the first round of the playoffs in either of his two full seasons in the Alamo City.
Following that March trade that sent him to Golden State for Stephen Jackson, the Spurs made it to the conference finals before advancing to the The Finals in each of the next two years during a stretch that coincided with the rise of Kawhi Leonard.