Tim Duncan’s final years with the Spurs are looking more and more unusual every time another star ages out of the league.
That was hard to miss on Wednesday night, when Steph Curry’s Warriors were beaten 127-105 by Luka Doncic’s revamped Lakers. Curry remains one of the league’s most beloved players, with fans everywhere paying attention to how his story ends.
But Golden State’s reality is a long way from contender talk right now. The Warriors won just 37 games last season, and even this early stretch has exposed how thin things look without Jimmy Butler.
A 38-year-old Curry leaning that heavily on a 37-year-old Butler is not the recipe for a team on the rise.
Compare that with Duncan’s late-career run in San Antonio, and the contrast jumps off the page. In 19 NBA seasons, the Spurs lost only two season openers under Duncan - one by five points and the other by six. Blowouts were not part of that story unless San Antonio was the one doing the damage.
The team around him kept winning, too. Over Duncan’s final five seasons, the Spurs posted 50, 58, 62, 55, and 67 victories.
That 50-win year came in a lockout-shortened season with just 66 games played. For a superstar nearing the end, that kind of closing stretch is rare.
A lot of other all-time greats didn’t get that kind of farewell.
Kevin Garnett’s last full season in Brooklyn ended 44-38, but the Nets fell to the Miami Heat 4-1 in the second round, and then Jason Kidd forced his way out as head coach. Brooklyn sent KG back to Minnesota midseason, and he finished his career there with teams that won 16 and 29 games.
Dirk Nowitzki’s final season in Dallas ended at 33-49, with no playoff berth and no real path to contention. Dwyane Wade’s last years in Miami came with teams that went 44-38 and 39-43.
And Kobe Bryant’s closing Lakers chapters were spent near the bottom of the standings. Los Angeles won 17 games in his final season. His 60-point farewell is still the lasting image, but it’s easy to forget how little help the Lakers gave him in the years before that.
Duncan’s case stands apart because the Spurs never made him live through a lost season. His .600-plus winning percentage across all 19 seasons is the longest streak like that in NBA history, and he reached the playoffs every single year. Nobody was looking at San Antonio and assuming the ride was over on his way out.
That reflects both Duncan and the organization, and it’s part of why the sight of Curry’s Warriors fading again brings Duncan’s ending into sharper focus.
Curry hasn’t said he’s close to retirement, and Golden State still has time to change the picture. But he is only one year away from the age Duncan was in his final season, and right now the Warriors do not look like a team built to give him anything close to what Duncan had.
In Other News...
Spurs Are Building Something In Austin Fans Can't Ignore
The Spurs have been making a very visible push up the road in Austin, and it has gone well beyond the usual outreach pitch. Through community engagement and growing ties with the University of Texas athletics department, the organization has steadily built a presence that feels deliberate, not accidental, with the Longhorns basketball program becoming a prominent part of that relationship. The connection has been strengthened by upcoming games and mutual support, giving San Antonio a foothold in a market that has plenty of basketball interest of its own.
Kevin Durants link to Texas only adds to the intrigue around that presence. The former Longhorn, now with the Houston Rockets, still has strong ties to the program and is expected to get a warm reception when he plays in Austin, a reminder of how much the city values its basketball roots. For the Spurs, the bigger picture is just as important, because their growing visibility there suggests they are trying to make Austin feel less like a neighbor and more like part of their basketball footprint. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama's New Deal Changes The Spurs' Castle And Harper Timeline
Victor Wembanyamas new five-year maximum rookie extension gives the Spurs a major financial anchor while also creating some breathing room around the rest of the roster. By reportedly coming in below the supermax, the deal is not just a headline number for San Antonios franchise centerpiece, it also changes the way the team can plan around him, especially as it tries to keep young talent together.
That flexibility matters because the Spurs are already thinking about the next layer of their core, with Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper both part of the broader roster-construction picture. A contract of this size for Wembanyama would normally tighten the screws elsewhere, but in this case it opens the door for San Antonio to explore market-value extensions and build with more options as those decisions come due. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Just Revealed What Is Driving His Next Leap
Victor Wembanyama is already thinking beyond the individual accolades that tend to follow a player of his stature, even if the MVP trophy sits near the top of the list. After the pain of an NBA Finals loss, he said that experience has become a major motivator for how he approaches this season, with the bigger picture centered on helping himself and his team grow in the right direction.
The offensive side of that leap is where the conversation keeps coming back, because San Antonio needs him to be more than a unique presence on the floor. If he can sharpen that part of his game, the Spurs path toward championship contention becomes a lot more realistic, and the frustration from last spring could start turning into the fuel for a deeper run. [Read more 🡒]