SAN ANTONIO – In the summertime, when the weather is high, there aren’t as many popular sports in-season as in the fall and winter.
ESPN decided to break through the lull in the calendar by releasing two lists this week: a ranking of the top 100 athletes dating back to 2000 and an alphabetized list of 25 athletes the network’s reporters believe are set to reign supreme over the next decade or two.
It’s safe to write that a good number of those athletes have worn or are wearing the Silver and Black.
Tim Duncan, former Spurs power forward/center
Duncan is the top-ranked Spur alum on ESPN’s top 100 athletes since 2000 list. He checked in at No. 16, one spot ahead of Cole High School alum Shaquille O’Neal.
The turn of the century was not ready for Duncan, who won four NBA titles after 2000, won back-to-back NBA MVPs, made 12 consecutive NBA All-Star Games to start the century, and was named among the NBA’s greatest 75 players ever in 2021.
Duncan, like O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, or Tiger Woods, came onto the scene in the 1990s. Because most of their notable accomplishments happened post-Y2K, these athletes were considered suitable candidates for the 2000s list.
What separated Duncan, and may have played a role in his No. 16 ranking out of 100, was how great of an athlete he was before the year 2000.
How many rookies stepped into the NBA and were immediate All-NBA First-Team performers like Duncan? How many rookies were immediate terrors on the defensive end like Duncan?
How many second-year players were putting up these numbers and winning an NBA championship?
Duncan was already a great in the ‘99 before he officially entered the 2000s.
Chris Paul, current Spurs point guard
The NBA is not a nice game for players, even point guards, who are listed at 6-foot-0. Guys are taller, faster and more physical going up against smaller guards, who tend to be scratching and clawing for every minute of their typically short NBA lives.
This is why Paul, ranked No. 83 on ESPN’s list of the best athletes since 2000, is still a modern marvel. He remains one of the league’s purest passing point guards and is arguably the best passer ever.
Paul, like Duncan, was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team in 2021. He won NBA Rookie of the Year in 2006, made nine consecutive NBA All-Star teams, and was an All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team performer in the same season three times. He also seemed to be aging like fine wine when he ran the point for a Phoenix Suns team that went to the NBA Finals in his age-35 season.
Other invaluable traits that Paul brings to the table are his basketball knowledge and work ethic. The Spurs are hoping Paul, who signed a one-year contract this offseason, will impart on the young team similar to how he helped set the tone in one season with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019-20.
The Thunder were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in 2023-24.
Kawhi Leonard, former Spurs power forward
There are moments when it’s been fair to question if Leonard is actually from here. Here, as in Earth.
He entered the NBA at 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, largely unheard of for a player his size.
Leonard’s larger-than-normal hands served as a space where basketballs could feel safe. As often as the ball is in his hands, Leonard only turned the ball over 1.6 times per game in his NBA career.
And, of course, that memorable laugh of his.
In addition to earning the 2014 NBA Finals MVP award weeks before his 23rd birthday, Leonard — ranked No. 85 on ESPN’s top 100 athletes list since 2000 — made his one-year stay in Toronto unforgettable.
He added a buzzer-beater in a Game 7 playoff series, the Raptors’ first-ever NBA championship, and a second NBA Finals MVP award for his trophy case.
Leonard’s time in San Antonio was a source of joy and pain for Spurs fans. What cannot be denied: he was the last and enduring connective tissue to the Spurs’ championship dynasty.
Victor Wembanyama, current Spurs power forward/center
Let’s leave the past in the past. The future is now.
When ESPN published its 25 athletes expected to take over the sports world article, there was only one current Spur who qualified for the list.
The pull of Victor Wembanyama is ever-increasing. He is fresh off of an NBA Rookie of the Year award and has already established himself as an impossible defender for offenses to get around.
Chris Paul is now on board. The Spurs also acquired former NBA champion Harrison Barnes in a July trade.
How high is Wembanyama’s potential?
It could stretch right up and touch the sky.