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Early on Monday, 4-time NBA Champion and San Antonio Spurs legend Manu Ginobili announced his retirement from basketball through a social media across his various profiles.
Over the course of his illustrious 16-year career, Ginobili was named to 2 All-Star teams [2005, 11], 2 All-NBA Third Teams [2008, 11] and the All-NBA Rookie Second Team in 2003. He was also named NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in 2008 but his true value cannot be gauged by listing these achievements.
In a franchise like the San Antonio Spurs, where sacrifice and team play was emphasized, it was great Hall of Fame worthy players like Ginobili and Tim Duncan that allowed the franchise to not only grow but also succeed to become one of the great dynasties of their time. While Duncan did it by sacrificing his prime and sharing the ball to make the team more effective, Ginobili did so by taking to the bench on the request of coach Gregg Popovich back in 2007 to strengthen the team's second unit.
Although 16 years is a long time in the NBA, Ginobili spent his early basketball career in Europe, where he had already become a bonafide star before he joined the Spurs in 2002. After playing a couple of seasons in Argentinian pro leagues, Ginobili moved to Europe in 1998 and over the next four years amassed several individual and team honors - Euroleague Champion and Finals MVP [2001], Euroleague Finals Top-Scorer [2001, 02], All-Euroleague First Team [2002],2-time Italian League MVP [2001, 02] and Italian Cup MVP [2002].
Given that it's a Basketball Hall of Fame, there's no doubt about the fact that Manu would be giving his speech at Springfield four years from now. That's something which multiple players - superstars and role players of the current era and past - echoed as they took to social media to congratulate, give thanks to the Argentian southpaw.
