After winning five NBA titles in 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, future Hall of Fame big man Tim Duncan called it a career on Tuesday. He did so on the most quiet of notes, relying on a press release from the only organization he suited up for during his near two-decade long career.
With Duncan out of the mix for the first time since the Bill Clinton Administration, so much is going to change in San Antonio. Replacing him in the frontcourt with Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge will be veteran free-agent acquisition Pau Gasol.
While the Spurs will most definitely miss Duncan't leadership on the court, it's readily apparent that Gasol is right now the better player. That's magnified by looking at how the two have performed over the past couple seasons.
| Player | Year | PPG | RPG | BPG | FG % | FT % |
| Tim Duncan | 2014-15 | 13.9 | 9.1 | 2.0 | .512 | .740 |
| Pau Gasol | 2014-15 | 18.5 | 11.8 | 1.9 | .494 | .803 |
| Tim Duncan | 2015-16 | 8.6 | 7.3 | 1.3 | .488 | .702 |
| Pau Gasol | 2015-16 | 16.5 | 11.0 | 2.0 | .469 | .792 |
Gasol has also been the better passer over the past two seasons, averaging 4.0 assists for the Chicago Bulls this past season.
His presence on the Spurs' roster will create more open looks for Aldridge and Leonard as well as the vast amount of secondary options the team has on the perimeter. That's going to be absolutely huge when it comes to the team's scoring ability.
With more open shots on the outside, both Aldridge and Leonard should improve their mid-range success rate. Remmeber, only 19 percent of Aldridge's mid-range jumpers came uncontested with Leonard's number sitting at 15 percent this past season.
Much like we will see with the Golden State Warriors' addition of Kevin Durant, having that extra willing passer is going to make things flow more smoothly in San Antonio. That will likely have a large impact on the scoring numbers the team's top two players put up in 2016-17.