Manu Ginobili is back with the San Antonio Spurs this season, but he’s making it clear there’s nothing to prove here other than that he still wants to play.
Many fans thought Ginobili might have been done with San Antonio after last season, when the Spurs were sent out of the playoffs by Golden State. But Ginobili is back for a 16th season with the team and he’s excited to be here.
Just don’t ask him much about his legacy, which he seems entirely uninterested in. Ginobili was asked about just that in a radio interview and he dismissed it pretty easily, saying he’d rather worry about other things.
“I been asked about my legacy and I really don’t care much about the legacy,” Ginobili told SiriusXM NBA Radio.
Ginobili called the idea of a legacy in sports “overrated” and said he mostly just wants to be remembered as a good human being.
“Earlier or later I want to be remembered as a good person, a good dude, that I was here around in town, and fun to watch, and good to hang out with but after a few years it’s going to be forgotten. The legacy thing is very overrated,” Manu said.
“We’re going to be gone soon and somebody better is going to come up, always! There’s always somebody better than you. If you live your life thinking about your legacy or what you’re going to leave, you don’t worry than you add another concern,” Ginobili said. “Just live your life every single day, do the best you can and that’s more of my motto than leaving a legacy.”
It’s a great perspective to have on life, but Ginobili is being incredibly modest here. The reaction he got in what many thought was his final game was telling. He’s beloved in San Antonio and throughout the NBA. When he’s done playing basketball everyone can go back to thinking he’s just “a good dude,” but what Manu has built in his career with the Spurs is something special.
There will be plenty of people willing to talk about that for him when he does eventually retire. That’s where being a good dude to others certainly helps.
