Tim Duncan has been such a constant in the NBA over the past two decades that everyone has a story about him — mostly about how playing against him didn’t end well for them. Draymond Green, one of the biggest trash-talkers in the league, gave up trying to get in Duncan’s head during his rookie year in 2012-13, as he remembers in his playoff diary at The Undefeated:
That sounds about right. Duncan has never been the type to talk back. It’s not his personality. He just goes out and dominates and says nothing. That’s what makes him great. Personality-wise, he couldn’t be further from Green, and the degree to which that threw Green for a loop makes this story hilarious.
“I do have a Tim Duncan story. My rookie year I kind of talked junk to everybody. In the middle of the game I started talking to Tim, and I had already got into it with somebody on their team. I don’t remember who it was. But I started talking to Tim and he kind of just stared at me. I just kept talking junk to him and he kept staring at me.
“At that point I realized during the rest of my career that I might as well not talk to him. Either, one, he is not going to talk back because he has no respect for me. Or, two, he is not going to talk back because that is who he is. Or, three, both. I figured then that was the last time I would talk junk to Tim. And that was the last time.”
That sounds about right. Duncan has never been the type to talk back. It’s not his personality. He just goes out and dominates and says nothing. That’s what makes him great. Personality-wise, he couldn’t be further from Green, and the degree to which that threw Green for a loop makes this story hilarious.