NBA News & Rumors: San Antonio Spurs Eye Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili Retirement; Gregg Popovich Commits To LaMarcus Aldridge

By Mitch de Leon
Tim Duncan
The San Antonio Spurs prepare for the retirement of Tim Duncan by signing LaMarcus Aldridge. Wikimedia Commons/Keith Allison

The San Antonio Spurs have always been regarded as NBA season favorites. With five NBA championship titles under the team's belt, along with the veteran leadership of Tim Duncan and the skills of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the San Antonio Spurs have been nothing but a formidable squad in the basketball scene. However, the devastating losses of the San Antonio Spurs in the previous NBA season have placed quite a lot of pressure not only to the team's players but also, and more importantly, to head coach Gregg Popovich.

Taking cue from the manner by which he handled problematic concerns in the past NBA season, the San Antonio Spurs took a proactive approach in solving the issue in the team's roster by successfully convincing LaMarcus Aldridge to sign with them - a feat that surprised even Tim Duncan himself.

"Over the years we've missed out on a bunch of people," shared Tim Duncan during the Media Day of the San Antonio Spurs. The NBA star went on to say, "We've always done it through free agency on a different level and the draft. This is the first time we've ever added a guy of (LaMarcus Aldridge's) caliber. Honestly, I was kind of betting against it. 'He'll choose to go somewhere else, he won't (sign with the Spurs),' right up until the end. I was floored by it." LaMarcus Aldridge is the former star player of the Portland Trailblazers. Prior to signing with the San Antonio Spurs, issues of LaMarcus Aldridge functioning as the mere shadow of Tim Duncan in the NBA team surfaced.

However, the widely sought after basketball star shrugged off these concerns and still opted to be with the San Antonio Spurs. LaMarcus Aldridge had been initially actively wooed by various NBA teams such as the New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors. With the addition of LaMarcus Aldridge in the Big Three stars of the San Antonio Spurs, namely, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the NBA team is pegged to have a very strong chance to beat the Golden State Warriors this season.

Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs have been reportedly preparing for the departure of two of the Big Three's stars: Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. While head coach Gregg Popovich acknowledges that the absence of the two in the San Antonio Spurs roster will require massive adjustment for him personally, he will still stay with the NBA team even after the departure of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. "Signing LaMarcus [Aldridge], I had to make a commitment," shared Gregg Popovich via Sports Illustrated.

The San Antonio Spurs head coach added, "I couldn't say, 'LaMarcus, we would love to sign you, see you later.' So I committed to those guys and I committed to LaMarcus. So, I've got to fulfill my promise."

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