(SP) – The San Antonio Spurs made a pleasant surprise this afternoon when they discovered that franchise legend Tim Duncan is back on the team and has been for quite some time.
“This is obviously a huge boost to get someone of Tim Duncan’s caliber in the postseason,” said head coach Gregg Popovich. “Although, I guess he’s officially been back since mid-January? I wish he had spoken up a lot earlier.”
Duncan says he had a conversation with Spurs GM R.C. Buford in early January about coming out of retirement and that Buford added him to the roster and told the big man to give Popovich the good news.
“I guess he forgot or, more likely, just mumbled it and is so understated that Gregg didn’t get the message,” said Buford. “I was kind of wondering why Tim was never getting in the games.”
Although Duncan has been occupying a chair on the bench for four months, none of his teammates noticed he was there either.
“Honestly, Timmy is so boring that my eyes have never really registered him. They just kind of glaze over,” said point guard Tony Parker. “I kept seeing this blurry nothingness on the bench the past few months and I thought I was developing a cataract. I didn’t know it was Tim.”
But with the franchise’s all-time greatest player back, the Spurs look at it as a great shot in the arm for their title chances.
“Except it’s not a shot in the arm in the exciting or energetic way,” said forward Kawhi Leonard. “And that’s just the way we like it.”
