The defiant graybeard who has remained relevant long past his supposed expiration date and the sometimes irascible youngster whom he couldn't fend off any longer met near halfcourt and embraced. Tim Duncan pulled in Kevin Durant for a few seconds and whispered into his hear, among other things, "Enjoy this. Take advantage of the opportunity."
Before he walked off the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Duncan looked over his shoulder, up toward the rafters, to see confetti falling on the victorious Oklahoma City Thunder and their raucous fans. Duncan then raised his index finger to say farewell to a season that ended much sooner than expected for the San Antonio Spurs – and, possibly, a career in which his time on a title contender has outlasted so many of his contemporaries.
Moments after defeating Duncan in the postseason for the second time in five seasons and making a return to the Western Conference finals that seemed unlikely as recently as last week, Durant wouldn't allow himself to consider what seemed obvious to many in the arena: that this could be it for a future Hall of Famer who has meant so much to the game.
Durant won't spend much time worrying about Duncan's future when he has much more pressing concerns: the defending champion Golden State Warriors and two-time MVP Stephen Curry. A second-round exit would’ve left Durant with considerable doubt about what he could accomplish in Oklahoma City. But beating the Spurs has provided some hope for the future of a franchise that isn’t just trying to win but also show Durant that there is no better place than where he already is.
Duncan has what Durant wants, and he made it clear after completing the upset that his task is far from complete. "This is not our championship," Durant stressed from the postgame podium.
Ever since the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City with a San Antonio front-office disciple in Sam Presti hoping to build a similar Spurs model around him, Durant has heard the comparisons to Duncan. Durant has always been flattered to be mentioned with the best power forward in history, but also recognized that the similarities beyond being humble in less glamorous locales weren’t completely accurate or fair.
“Obviously, it was an easy comparison, two small-market teams, but we come from different backgrounds, different personalities and we handle things differently,” Durant told The Vertical. “He does stuff his way, and it’s been nothing but successful and I’m going to handle stuff my way. I’ve had my ups and downs, just like any other person. I did it my way, and I’m trying to create my own path.”
Durant will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career this summer, creating an angst-filled period for the franchise and testing all that has been built over the past eight years. Duncan got to experience that situation much earlier in his career in 2000, a year after winning his first title, when he nearly decided to join Grant Hill in Orlando. David Robinson returned from a Hawaiian vacation to join Gregg Popovich in an emotional pitch to persuade Duncan to stay. The Thunder’s best pitch, it seems, is to keep advancing.
Back in January, Durant told The Vertical that the Spurs and Warriors weren't “light years better” than the Thunder, regardless of what the records said. Oklahoma City was slowly coming together under a new coach in Billy Donovan and with Durant returning from three surgeries on his right foot. With comparable talent to other elite teams in the league, the Thunder are a more dangerous threat to Golden State than San Antonio because of the versatility of their frontline and the potential for explosive performances from Durant and Russell Westbrook.
While the Thunder fiddled around and struggled with injuries the past four years since that lone NBA Finals appearance in 2012, the Warriors swooped in to become the championship standard-bearer many thought was destined for the league’s most dynamic duo. Oklahoma City, once again, won’t be the favorite to which Durant offers only a shrug.
“It really didn’t matter to us,” Durant told The Vertical. “We can’t control the noise outside. We focus on everybody on this side, in this practice floor and this arena. We worry about that. That’s part of the job. People are going to make predictions and make assumptions about everything. We just got to play.”
That approach has already helped the Thunder make San Antonio only the second team in NBA history with at least 67 wins not to advance to the conference finals. Duncan’s pride wouldn’t allow him to go out stammering and sputtering. For one more night – in a tradition that spans from Robinson to Kawhi Leonard – he was perhaps the best player on his team. The most successful coach-player combination this side of Red Auerbach and Bill Russell, in terms of consistency and longevity, was working in concert until the end Thursday night. Popovich approached Duncan before the start of the fourth quarter and left it up to his most humble superstar to finish the game on his own terms.
“We had a conversation. He asked me if I wanted to play, I said, ‘I always want to play.’ He said, ‘All right, go for it.’ That was the end of it,” Duncan said. “I got to stay out there the whole time.”
On the court with fellow 40-year-old Andre Miller, Duncan helped the Spurs mount an incredible comeback, whittling the Thunder’s 28-point lead down to 11 in the final minutes. But when Serge Ibaka met Duncan at the rim to slap down a driving attempt late, leading to a Durant dunk on the other end, Duncan lowered his head, tugged at his shorts and glumly walked to the bench, conceding that the game was over. Afterward, Duncan wasn’t prepared to make the same announcement about his future.
“I’ll get to that after I get out of here and figure life out,” Duncan said.
Writing off Duncan and the Spurs was an annual tradition until they ended a seven-year title drought in 2014, when they knocked off Durant and Westbrook and dismantled a potential dynasty in Miami, pushing LeBron James back home to Cleveland in the process. But this postseason exit feels much different, considering that Duncan is 40 and no longer looks ageless. The game has also changed dramatically from when Duncan entered the league 19 years ago, with the influence of traditional, plodding back-to-the-basket scorers becoming more diminished. Thunder center Steven Adams showcased the requirements for big men in the era of space and pace, using the speed, agility and force needed to make the remaining skill set of The Big Fundamental seem obsolete.
Millennials own the game now, but Duncan was the last Gen-Xer holding on, refusing to surrender with a competitive forest fire raging underneath that calm, mellow exterior. Duncan made the Spurs’ culture work for so long because of his willingness to defer and adjust. He let Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili take over when his game began to decline, moved over to the dreaded center position when the Spurs pulled off their first major free-agent coup in signing LaMarcus Aldridge, and helped push Leonard, the new face of NBA stoicism, to a level of greatness few could’ve expected from a 15th overall pick.
That’s partly why Leonard sat motionless, covered only in towels, staring blankly into his locker-room stall after the loss. Leonard didn’t want Duncan’s season to end this early, this poorly, especially with so much uncertainty surrounding what comes next. “He’s just been a great teammate for me. Helped me grow up a lot throughout my years,” Leonard said of Duncan, “but we’ll see what happens.”
Earlier this season, Duncan was asked if he was pleased that the franchise would be in good hands whenever he decides to hang ’em up. Offering that classic, deadpan humor that often went unnoticed by casual fans throughout his career, Duncan replied, "You assume I care about what's going to happen after I'm gone."
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