The retirement of the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan two seasons ago brought to a close the greatest era of basketball for the franchise. Duncan’s retirement not only closed out his career but the Spurs’ “Duncan Era” of basketball also. The power forward presided over five NBA championships for the Spurs, winning Finals MVP in three of them.
The last of those championships resulted in Kawhi Leonard winning Finals MVP honors in only his third season.
The 15th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft, Leonard has established himself as one of the best players in the league. Aside from Finals MVP honors, he’s made himself into one of the best two-way players, winning NBA Defensive Player of the Year honors twice, earning a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive Team four times, and was named to the All-NBA First Team two years in a row.
When it comes to accomplishments, Leonard has been earning accolades worthy of being the successor to Duncan’s throne in the same manner that David Robinson handed to the latter the keys to the kingdom upon retirement.
But just as Duncan exceeded his mentor’s gaudy accomplishments, will Leonard be able to surpass his predecessor as perhaps the greatest player in Spurs history?
It may not seem possible now because of his injury-riddled 2017-18 campaign but Leonard will be back on the court soon and is looking to help the team bolster its playoff chances with his return. The Spurs have been struggling to find consistency in their play and will need any contribution from Leonard that he can offer.
Amid reports that Leonard wants out of San Antonio, the 2016-17 MVP candidate quashed rumors of friction between him and the team when he finally broke his silence on Wednesday. When asked later if he wants to finish his career with the Spurs, Leonard was as full in his resolve as he can possibly be.
“Yeah. For sure,” he said according to Tom Orsbon of San Antonio Express News.
The quiet and unassuming superstar knows where he wants to spend his career. He signed a 5-year contract that will keep him in San Antonio until the 2019-20 season when he will be an unrestricted free agent after and can sign a max contract.
Prior to Leonard’s injury, his development from year to year had been astounding. For five consecutive years since his rookie year, his points and assists were climbing consistently which topped off at 25.5 and 3.5 respectively. If he hadn’t been injured entering this season, he could have easily been the Houston Rockets’ James Harden’s chief competitor for the MVP award.
Regardless of Leonard’s prior accomplishments, he was poised to reap even more awards in his seventh year in the league. If his play continued to get better, Leonard could have become the league’s best player this season.
But even if he does recover his form by next season, he has a lot of ground left to cover to even get close to Duncan’s accomplishments.
Check out the career highlights and awards from each one below:
Tim Duncan
- 5× NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014)
- 3× NBA Finals MVP (1999, 2003, 2005)
- 2× NBA Most Valuable Player (2002–2003)
- 15× NBA All-Star (1998, 2000–2011, 2013, 2015)
- NBA All-Star Game MVP (2000)
- All-NBA Rookie First Team (1998)
- 10× All-NBA First Team (1998–2005, 2007, 2013)
- 3× All-NBA Second Team (2006, 2008–2009)
- 2× All-NBA Third Team (2010, 2015)
- 8× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1999–2003, 2005,2007–2008)
- 7× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1998, 2004,2006, 2009–2010, 2013, 2015)
- NBA Rookie of the Year (1998)
- Rebounding title (2001-02)
- NBA Shooting Stars champion (2008)
- NBA Teammate of the Year (2015)
- San Antonio Spurs all-time leading scorer
- USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (2003)
- Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year (2003)
Kawhi Leonard
- NBA champion (2014)
- NBA Finals MVP (2014)
- Defensive Player of the Year (2015, 2016)
- 2× NBA All-Star (2016, 2017)
- 2× All-NBA First Team (2016, 2017)
- 3× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2015, 2016, 2017)
- 1x NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2014)
- All-NBA Rookie First Team (2012)
- Steals title (2014-15)
As you can see, Leonard has plenty of work to do if he wants to surpass Duncan. But a couple of championships with him as the best player in each one can do wonders for his career. Who knows what that will do for his confidence and his development?
If the Spurs surround him with a better supporting cast and LaMarcus Aldridge continues to play at an All-Star level alongside him, Leonard could enter Duncan’s territory ever so slowly but surely. After all, no matter how good Robinson was, he only won two championships with the Spurs and that’s with the help of Duncan.
Duncan was one of the premier defenders in his prime and was still highly effective in the twilight years of his career. Leonard is shaping up to be one of the greatest defenders at the small forward position ever. His defense on LeBron James during the 2014 NBA Finals was exceptional. Even though James was able to get his numbers, he had to work hard for them because of Leonard’s stellar defensive job.
The key for Leonard is health and consistency. Every game for him must be a showcase of his immense talent. The Spurs go where he goes as evidenced by their loss to the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs last year. He has to dominate the league in ways that Duncan did during his prime. Leonard, is a quick study and has the potential to be one of the franchise’s best.
One thing going against Leonard is his how his first four years were good but not great years whereas Duncan came into the league as a star already. At this point, Leonard has to score 20,000 points more just to catch up to Duncan’s franchise-leading mark.
But in terms of surpassing Tim Duncan, that window may have closed the moment he was injured in last season’s playoffs and he has rarely been seen this season, playing only nine games so far.
Again, it’s not outside of the realm of possibility that Leonard can overtake Duncan’s status. But it is highly improbable given the number of years he has to play just to play catch up to the greatest Spur who ever lived.
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