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The San Antonio Spurs are one of the most consistent franchises in NBA history. They have won five NBA championships, which have all come in the past 18 years. These championships were won in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. Interestingly enough, Gregg Popovich was the Spurs' coach during all of these championship runs.
What has allowed Popovich to succeed is of course his coaching skills, but also having the right mix of players. The Spurs have featured a number of stars over the years. Today, we will look at the five best players in San Antonio Spurs history.
5) Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard is the epitome of the modern NBA player. While he is not on the San Antonio Spurs anymore, he had a historic run with them. Leonard developed slowly under the leadership of Popovich, Duncan and Parker to become the best two-way player in NBA. Moreover, he won a championship with them in 2014 and was named the Finals MVP for his effective defense against LeBron James.
Kawhi Leonard is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and is extremely versatile. Despite only spending seven years with the Spurs, he has done enough to become the fifth-best Spurs player ever. While Leonard has been on different teams as of late, he continues to live with the Spurs defensive mentality, which was ingrained in him by the legendary coaching of Gregg Popovich.
4) Tony Parker
Tony Parker is the best point guard in San Antonio Spurs history and is the franchise leader in assists by a wide margin. Parker is a French player and is a four-time NBA champion. He even won the 2007 NBA Finals MVP award despite having Tim Duncan on the team.
Tony Parker had an uncanny ability to distribute the ball as well as score. Despite his small size at 6-foot-2, Parker was adept at taking the ball to the rim.
In his first NBA season, Parker averaged 9.2 points, 4.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds. He was able to grow these numbers to 18.8 points, 6.0 assists and 3.2 rebounds by the 2007-08 season. He is one of the most humble and hard-working players that Popovich has coached in his years as the Spurs coach.
3) George Gervin
George Gervin was a pure scorer and won four NBA scoring titles. He was a 12-time All-star and even won the MVP on one of those occasions in 1980. Gervin is best known as "The Iceman" and has an iconic basketball move, which is the finger roll.
Perhaps the only reason that Gervin isn't talked about enough today is his lack of an NBA championship. It is fair to say that if he had won a championship with the Spurs, he would have gone down in history as one of the best scorers ever to play the game.
2) David Robinson
David Robinson is one of the best centers in NBA history and was the league MVP in 1995. Robinson won his first NBA title under Gregg Popovich and alongside Tim Duncan in 1999. Robinson was a defensive anchor and blocked the most shots in NBA history. Interestingly enough, he also has the most steals in the Spurs franchise history.
Robinson retired after the 2002-03 season. However, his retirement was unlike most other NBA players. Robinson won a championship in his final year in the NBA, which made him a two-time NBA champion and the second-best Spurs player ever.
1) San Antonio Spurs Legend Tim Duncan
There is no way to talk about the San Antonio Spurs without talking about Tim Duncan. Duncan is a five-time NBA champion and was part of all Spurs franchise championships. At 6-11, it is widely argued that Duncan is the best power forward of all time.
Duncan was the first pick in the 1997 NBA Draft and only played for the Spurs. He leads the Spurs in games played, field goals, rebounds and blocks. He was named to All-NBA and All-Defensive teams 15 times during his 19 seasons with the Spurs, making him the best player to ever put on the black and silver jersey.
