The legendarily stoic Tim Duncan wasn’t just excited when he heard he won the Twyman Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, he was “stoked,” according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN.
“That’s what makes it the most special, knowing that people voted me and chose me for this award,” Duncan said. “An amazing honor. It’s taken so long to get to this point, to accept the award. But I was really stoked when I heard about it. It’s truly an honor.”
This is one of the NBA’s more interesting awards, mainly because of how the winner is decided. Players can’t vote for anyone on their own team, which is kind of odd, considering it’s an award that recognizes the best teammates. What that means is that the recipient’s reputation is well-known in every locker room around the league. Here is how the award is decided, per the NBA’s release:
The award recognizes the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.
A panel of NBA Legends nominated six players from each conference for the award and then nearly 300 NBA players submitted their votes through confidential balloting conducted by the league office.
Duncan’s leadership is often overlooked due to his insanely consistent production on the court, yet his leadership is precisely what’s allowed the Spurs to be so dominant for so long. He leads both vocally and by example, holding himself as accountable as anyone on the team, no matter how much he’s earned a slight reprieve.
Gregg Popovich constantly cites that leadership as to why the Spurs are the Spurs, lavishing praise on Duncan while reflecting any from himself. And while Pop certainly plays a large part in the Spurs’ success, as he often says, none of it would have happened without Duncan.
