NBA News: Duncan Exercises Player Option with Spurs, to Stay Another Year

Mr. Fundamental, Tim Duncan, will have another go in a quest to tie Michael Jordan for six NBA championships.

ESPN.com reports that the all-star and possible in the discussion for greatest power forward of all-time exercised his $10.3 player option for the 2014-2015 season, the team announced Monday.

At the age of 38, Duncan continues to be a stabilizing force in the middle. Per 36 minutes, he registered figures of 18.7 points per game, 12.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks which are within the vicinity of career averages of 20.6 points per game, 11.5 rebounds per game and 2.3 blocks per game.

His consistency coupled with the coaching decision to reduce his season minutes in exchange for playoff longevity and consistency translated into the fifth NBA title for the Spurs franchise and Duncan who is a part of the team since his rookie year. After the Spurs winning it all this year, speculation is ripe that the victory may be the perfect fairy tale ending to the illustrious career of Duncan. With the exercise of the player option of Duncan, the Spurs have now assurances that they will be able to keep their core of Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the face of the franchise since early 2000s.

With Duncan staying for an extra year, the Spurs will now have to focus their attention on keeping other role players such as Patrick Mills and Boris Diaw who were instrumental in bringing the fifth ring to the duo of RC Buford and coaching genius Gregg Popovich.

Duncan won his fifth championship posting averages of 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and three assists. He has a long and decorated career which yielded 14 All-star appearances, three NBA Finals MVP awards and two regular season MVPs. His latest triumph now puts him the discussion for the Greatest Power Forward of All-time talks.