Spurs retires Tim Duncan's jersey

After San Antonio's victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at the AT&T Center on Monday, the Spurs retired Tim Duncan’s number 21 jersey. The said jersey was raised to the rafters which officially declared "The Big Fundamental" as one of the greatest players in San Antonio Spurs history.

The ceremony was hosted by Elliot, and featured speeches from coach Gregg Popovich. “Duncan is exactly the same person now as he was when he walked in the door,” Popovich said. Together with them were Duncan’s long-time teammates Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

Duncan is considered as the best power forward. He has led the San Antonio Spurs to five NBA titles in his 19 seasons. Aside from that, he was a three-time Finals MVP and two-time league MVP. The most memorable experience that Duncan had was when he was part of the All-NBA First Team ten times.

During the event, Duncan expressed his appreciation to everyone who helped him in his basketball career. "The love and support is overwhelming, especially over the last couple of weeks. I've heard from teammates, from the guys I've been with forever, to guys I played a year or two with, to these jokers over here; just an amazing response, and just an overwhelming amount of love from these guys for what I meant to them, and it doesn't even explain how much they meant to me. Thank you, San Antonio."

To honour their ex-teammate, Ginobili and Parker wore a pair of customised number 21 socks before the match against the Pelicans. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili had a total of 126 career playoff wins together, which is known as the most in NBA history by any trio.

Shirts, jerseys, shoe and other memorabilia of Duncan are available for purchase in any Adidas or NBA stores in Australia.