Spurs just won the 2014 NBA Finals!! and they beat their opponents (the Miami Heat) by the largest combined margin in NBA history: 70 points. Pure dominance.
This is Tim Duncan’s 5th ring, and he’s still playing at a high level at 38 years old! Let’s look at some other players who have played for a long time and see how Duncan matches up (I’m using 37 as the threshold age here which was Wilt’s age when he retired):
| Name | FG% | PPG | RPG | APG | Age | Year |
| Tim Duncan | 0.502 | 17.8 | 9.9 | 2.7 | 37 | 2013 |
| Kareem Abdul Jabbar | 0.578 | 21.5 | 7.3 | 2.6 | 37 | 1984 |
| Karl Malone | 0.509 | 25.5 | 9.5 | 3.7 | 37 | 2000 |
| Wilt Chamberlain | 0.727 | 13.2 | 18.6 | 4.5 | 37 | 1973 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon | 0.458 | 10.3 | 6.2 | 1.4 | 37 | 2000 |
| David Robinson | 0.507 | 12.2 | 8.3 | 1.2 | 37 | 2002 |
| Patrick Ewing | 0.435 | 17.3 | 9.9 | 1.1 | 37 | 1999 |
| Shaquille O’Neal | 0.609 | 17.8 | 8.4 | 1.7 | 37 | 2009 |
| Moses Malone | 0.474 | 15.6 | 9.1 | 1.1 | 37 | 1992 |
| Charles Barkley | 0.477 | 14.5 | 10.5 | 3.2 | 37 | 2000 |
| Robert Parish | 0.580 | 15.7 | 10.1 | 1.3 | 37 | 1990 |
| Elvin Hayes | 0.472 | 16.1 | 9.1 | 1.8 | 37 | 1982 |
| Artis Gilmore | 0.619 | 16.7 | 8.5 | 1.4 | 37 | 1986 |
| Kevin Garnett | 0.496 | 14.8 | 7.8 | 1.1 | 37 | 2013 |
As you can see from this table, Wilt Chamberlain was an absolute beast, even in his late years! Aside from that, you can see why Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Karl Malone became the NBA’s all time leading scorer, and 2nd leading scorer respectively – they were putting up 20+ points when they were 37 years old! Tim Duncan actually compares quite favorably to Patrick Ewing when they were about the same age – though Duncan is a much better shooter. He is clearly up there when compared to other long lived big men.