The San Antonio Spurs will now be transitioning this offseason with the loss of their anchor Tim Duncan. He served for 19 amazing years with the same organization that drafted him number one overall in 1997 and the city couldn’t be more thankful for 5 titles. Imagine adding one more ring for his legacy like Michael Jordan did, cementing his legacy as arguably the greatest basketball player in league history.

But before Duncan was legendary, back when he was still a young buck, he took a hipster-like approach when speaking about MJ. In a nutshell, he wasn’t a fan of Jordan’s “because everybody else is” in an interview in 1998 with Dan Patrick.

Though Jordan is a legendary sports icon across the globe, Timmy wasn’t even that big of a fan of his game.

“I’m just somebody that isn’t that impressed by him. There really isn’t anybody in the world that I’m impressed with.”

Such a classic Timmy quote.

One of the more reserved players in the league isn’t even that impressed with a six-time champion who averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. Winning TWO three-peats with the Chicago Bulls franchise who even gave him a statue commemorating his accomplishments. How can you not be impressed by that?!

If he didn’t take off time to pursue his professional baseball career, who knows how many more championships MJ could’ve added to his legacy.

Two players that Duncan was impressed with was power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim of the Vancouver Grizzlies at the time and point guard Stephon Marbury of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Abdur-Rahim went on to average 18.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for his stellar career. Marbury went on to star in the league as one of the best point guards averaging 19.3 points and 7.6 assists per game for a number of teams.

It takes a lot to impress the greatest power forward the game has ever seen but that’s just Duncan’s personality. Yes the hoopla over Jordan during that time was immense and could’ve gotten annoying to some players, but kids are still reacting to seeing MJ years after his retirement as if he was on his way to play one more game for the Bulls. The man is an icon who has recently been involved in having his voice heard on the matter of the police violence that has swept this nation.

Regardless, both of these two players are legends in themselves for what they have brought to their respective teams. Building their organizations up as the premiere team to beat in the league for years on end. There is no way both the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs could have won a combined 11 championships without the help of MJ and TD.

But that interview was in 1998 and I’m sure that Duncan has changed his stance on Jordan. It just begs the question, what does Michael Jordan think about Tim Duncan? That would be interesting to hear about.

Your move Mike.