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Tim Duncan won’t be back on the bench for the San Antonio Spurs next season. Duncan quits full-time assistant role with Spurs after just one season, says Marc Stein of the New York Times. Although Duncan is stepping down from his current role, he will not be leaving the Spurs organization entirely, as he is expected to continue playing a player development role with the squad – a role he held before officially joining the staff of Gregg Popovich on the bench last season.
Internally, Spurs still expected Duncan’s passage off the bench to be a short-lived situation, according to Stein. Duncan did not accompany the Spurs to Orlando for the resumption of the 2019-20 season. Instead, he stayed in San Antonio to help LaMarcus Aldridge recover from shoulder surgery. Duncan leaves training with a career 1-0 record, after claiming a victory over the Charlotte Hornets in March. Popovich missed the game for personal reasons and Duncan was the interim head coach.
While Duncan is still in the franchise, Popovich will likely miss having Duncan on his squad in an official capacity.
“It’s good for the players, for the coaches, for the staff just with him,” Popovich said of Duncan before the start of last season. “He’s going to contribute in a way I’m not even familiar with – kind of like a player who doesn’t show up in the stats but makes you better. I don’t think he’s going to think about more than seven hours of film. or something like that … (But) his presence will be invaluable. ”
Duncan played his entire 19-year career with the Spurs and helped lead the team to five NBA championships. He was 15-time All-Star, two-time NBA MVP, and is widely regarded as Spurs’ greatest player of all time.
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