It would have been the perfect time to go out on top.
Tim Duncan won his fifth NBA championship this season, capping off another dominant season with the San Antonio Spurs by exacting revenge on the Miami Heat and dispatching them in five games in the 2014 NBA Finals.
The ageless veteran is back for more, however, as he exercised his $10.3 million player option on Monday to return to the Spurs for his 18th NBA season.
Duncan’s decision to continue playing means that the team’s core three players — Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili — will all be back next season.
That’s a scary prospect for the rest of the league, seeing as the Spurs simply dominated the rest of the NBA with a 62-20 regular season record and show no signs of dropping off in 2014-15.
Next year might be the final shot for the veteran trio in San Antonio, as Duncan, Parker and Ginobili are all entering the final year of their contracts. If this season was any indication, though, the 38-year-old Duncan’s desire to go out on top may be fulfilled anyway with yet another ring.
Photo via Twitter/@si_nba
