It seems strange that we are now in June and with the season over, the San Antonio Spurs have been somewhat of an afterthought since their first round exit to the Los Angeles Clippers. Having been somewhat of a mainstay in the final stages of the playoffs for the better part of a decade, it certainly is an unfamiliar feeling for NBA fans to not be discussing a magnificent game winning floater from Tony Parker or a clutch, series clinching bank shot made by Tim Duncan. In fact, there has been a lot of uncertainty around the Spurs and their aging superstars as the future of both Duncan and Manu Ginobili remains unclear.
The two superstars are yet to confirm whether they will return for another year next season, however, the third member of the star trio Tony Parker, seems fairly confident that his team mates will be back to join him as a unit for at least one more year in Texas. When asked by Express News about the future of Duncan & Ginobili, the San Antonio point guard was quoted “I think they’re both going to play another year’.
Parker will be desperate to get over a season hampered by injury and get back to his All-Star level production for one more run at a championship. Parker, 33, is the youngest member of the ‘Big 3’ and despite Ginobili turning 38 and Tim Duncan turning 40 respectively, the Spurs will no doubt be one of the hot favorites to win the Western Conference yet again, should the two NBA legends choose to return.
As mentioned, Duncan is approaching 40 years old and last season certainly looked as good as ever. Despite a dip in production, the Spurs superstar played a career low of 28.9 minutes per game, a contributing factor to the lower numbers. The minute’s restrictions again proved to pay off however, as Duncan had four games scoring 20+ points in the playoffs. Despite not being the scorer he once was, one thing that hasn’t left the 15 time All-Star is defensive presence on the floor. Duncan can still put up numbers in the paint averaging 9.1 rebounds and 2 blocks a game this past season. The man known as the Big Fundamental still looks to have some basketball left in him and is still capable of producing in some big games when his number is called. Manu Ginobili on the other hand had a more inconsistent year and is certainly starting to show his age a bit more than his fellow Spurs team mate. Ginobili averaged a career high 5 turnovers per game and despite leading his team in assists in the playoffs, shot an awful 34% in the Clippers series.
The Spurs however have some cap space to reload next season. Along with Ginobili and Duncan, Danny Green, Marco Bellineli, Jeff Ayres, Matt Bonner and Austin Daye are all set to be unrestricted free agents coming off the books for San Antonio. This opens up the opportunity for the already widely rumoured LaMarcus Aldridge to possibly be signed to his home state of Texas and be the heir to Tim Duncan’s throne. With Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Millsap and Marc Gasol all rumoured as potential targets for Gregg Popovich this off season, any one of those additions would certainly boost the Spurs into automatic contention.
One has to wonder if the Spurs had a healthy Tony Parker running the floor, if things may have played out differently for the Spurs this past season. There is no doubt however that with the emergence of Kawhi Leonard as a star in the league, the ageless Tim Duncan still producing and the veteran mind and savvy of Manu Ginobili to help guide the younger talent, the Spurs will be a contender once again next year. When healthy, San Antonio are virtually unbeatable and with the potential addition of a big name free agent this summer, there is still hope at one last title run for the Spurs. For fans who love to watch the game of basketball played beautifully, we should all hope that the ‘Big 3’ have one more run in them. However if they choose to call it a career, its been a fantastic ride and a pleasure to watch.