Creating San Antonio Spurs All-Decade teams for the 2010s

Power Forward: LaMarcus Aldridge (2015-16 to present)

Statistics for the Decade:

• 19.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 blocks per game
• 50.5 percent from the field, 29.9 percent from 3-point (0.8 attempts), 81.6 percent from the free throw line
• 56.2 true shooting percentage, 39.4 win shares, 10.3 value over replacement level

This selection might not seem to be a shock, but take one look at how the San Antonio Spurs fan base views LaMarcus Aldridge and it may come off as a surprise to see him on an All-Decade list.

With the exception of 2017-18 — the year Kawhi Leonard’s unavailability just so happened to coincide with Aldridge’s most productive statistical season in San Antonio — it’s difficult to remember a time in which appreciation for a seven-time All-Star has been so scattered about.

Since arriving in the summer of 2016. To put a number to that:

• LaMarcus Aldridge has produced 39.4 win shares, an elite No. 17 league-wide. In San Antonio, no other player can say they’ve even gotten 30.
• Aldridge is the only Spur to log at least 10,000 minutes, both a testament to his durability, but also to how large a load he’s shouldered since he’s come to Texas.
• Aldridge has scored 6,468 points over 325 games. The next Spur? Kawhi Leonard with 3,557 points. In other words, a little more than a stone’s throw away.
• With Aldridge on-court, the Spurs have outscored opponents by 4.8 points per 100, the same number as Nikola Jokic, and higher than Paul George, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
• A few other rankings: seconds in game played, first in rebounds, third in assists, and of the Spurs’ six most productive seasons (per win shares), Aldridge owns four of them.

Age has both forced and allowed Aldridge to transition gracefully into one of the NBA’s elite centers. Make no mistake: he’s been brilliant at both positions. In 2016, Sports Illustrated ranked Aldridge as the No. 11 player in the NBA at power forward, and then the No. 16 player heading into this season, as a center.

Keeping up with the numbers trend, it would be nice to someday see Aldridge’s No. 12 joined side-by-side with Bruce Bowen in the rafters at the AT&T Center. Like his aforementioned former teammates, Aldridge should someday be recognized as an all-time great — a Hall of Famer.

Like them, Aldridge also has a trio of top-10 finishes in MVP voting, including a 9th-place finish in 2017-18.

But it’d be just as unsurprising to see him end up just like Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Ray Allen, or even Paul George — players who had all-time great impact across numerous different franchises, but either burned bridges, or had bridged burned for them, leaving them without a jersey retirement or full-on respect among one specific franchise.

That feels like it’d be quite the slight for the highest-scoring born Texan in the history of basketball.

Maybe history — or Spurs fans even — would see Aldridge differently if he had been either the primary or secondary star on a championship team, similar to last season with Kyle Lowry. For a few seasons, it seemed like a possibility. In 2016, the Spurs bowed out to the Thunder, but Aldridge ensured they went out swinging.

Over the first two games, Aldridge averaged a historic 39.5 points per game on 75.0 percent shooting and 100 percent from the 3-point and free throw line. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were present, but Aldridge was the talk of the town.

A criminal play and spotty officiating officially closed the door on that. But without Aldridge’s services, especially over the last three seasons, the Spurs postseason streak would been buried long ago. Just something to think about.

Others considered: Boris Diaw, Matt Bonner