Comments Resurface of Tim Duncan Brutally Ripping Michael Jordan

Tim Duncan is widely known for not being very vocal for a superstar. The 2-time champion played 19 years for the San Antonio Spurs and has since retired to join the coaching staff.

Duncan has managed to keep his personal life very private, and he almost remains forgotten in a world where every little detail is posted on the internet. Despite this, some comments from his rookie year have begun to go viral. The comments are from Tim's rookie year when he had some unfavorable things to say about the 6-time champion Michael Jordan.

Duncan's 1998 Interview

The now-infamous interview took place during Duncan's rookie year when he spoke with Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. Jordan was the center of attention around the NBA at this time. He had just retired for the second time after hitting the "final shot" against the Utah Jazz to win his final NBA championship and was the most popular athlete on the planet. During this interview, Duncan claimed to not be a fan because "everybody else" was.



He then went on to clarify that he wasn't singling out Jordan, and in fact, nobody impressed him. This wasn't a direct attack on Jordan. He did also go on to admit that he respected Jordan but just didn't like him. However, he didn't provide a specific reason for his feelings.



Top 10 Players

What makes this interview so interesting is that in the 20 years since, Duncan has gone on to become one of the best players of all time, and Jordan is still regarded as a unanimous top 2 player of all time. Both players are considered the best to have ever played at their positions and are definitely top 10 players ever.

It is nearly impossible to compete with Jordan's resume, with him boasting 6 championships and Finals MVPs, 10 All-NBA First Team selections, and multiple MVP awards. Duncan comes fairly close, falling just shy with 5 championships, 3 Finals MVPs, and also 10 All-NBA First Team selections. They both have been considered the best player on the planet at some point in time and would likely have had a historic rivalry if they had been in their primes at the same time.

The two stars seemed to just miss out on each other in terms of forming any real NBA rivalry. Duncan's rookie year was Jordan's final season as a Bull, and in the season following Jordan's final championship, Duncan ended up winning his first.

They did play each other on multiple occasions, but after retiring for 3 seasons prior, most of their matchups involved an older Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards, whereas Duncan was in his prime and winning MVPs.




Bulls vs Spurs

The Bulls and the Spurs are arguably the two greatest NBA dynasties over the last 35 years. They both had all-time great coaches in Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, they both had MVPs in Jordan, Duncan, and David Robinson, and they both won many championships during their dynasty eras.

Playing in opposite conferences, it is likely that we would have seen both teams match up in the Finals multiple times if they had played at the same time. In fact, many believe that would have ultimately been the 1999 NBA Finals had Jordan not retired and the Bulls not elected to blow up their championship roster. The Spurs went on to win the championship that season, beating the New York Knicks 4-1.

https://www.youtube.com/live/MF6WSaMn49s?si=ps6Gn-xGCdajhagV

The debate on which dynasty is better really kicks in when you consider all the different variations of each team. The Bulls, for example, completed their first three-peat with Jordan, Pippen, and Horace Grant, and in their second, they replaced Grant with Dennis Rodman. The Spurs had even more championship variations. They initially started off with the big man combo of Duncan and Robinson, but after Robinson's retirement, they formed a new big three with international talents Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbli. Their most recent championship roster featured their veteran core, boosted by a young Kawhi Leonard, who won the Finals MVP in 2014.

Many fans can't even agree on which version of each dynasty was better, let alone which dynasty was better. But what we do know for sure is that it would have been must-see TV had they played each other in their primes.

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