The 30 best NBA seasons from players over 35 years old — 2. Tim Duncan, 2013-14 (37)
In 1996-97, a David Robinson injury sent the San Antonio Spurs spiraling into a lost season and the first overall pick, which they used to select Tim Duncan. Since then, the Spurs won at least 50 games (or their lockout-equivalent) for 20 straight seasons. That level of sustained success, peaked with five titles, is unheard of in modern sports.
There were many people who contributed to that success, but at the center of it all was Tim Duncan. The steady power forward contributed innumerable bank shots, blocked shots and bugged-out eyeballs protesting foul calls, playing 1392 regular-season games and over 47,000 minutes for the franchise.
While he hit the ground running and won two MVPs in his first five seasons, the peak of his late career was the 2013-14 season. Even at age 37, he was still a powerful force inside for the Spurs. He averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks that year, steady as she goes. Even playing less than 30 minutes per game Duncan finished fifth in blocks and fourteenth in rebounds.
Advanced stats highlight his per-minute impact. Duncan was top-10 in defensive rebound percentage, block percentage, and defensive win shares. His defensive rating of 97.6 was fourth in the league. Duncan manned the middle of the league’s third-best defense, and the Spurs finished 62-20, the best record in the entire league.
Duncan only increased his impact in the postseason. He increased his playing time to 32.7 minutes per game, scoring 16.3 points and 9.2 rebounds. He totaled 3.2 win shares over a 23-game run that saw the Spurs take down the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder on their path to the NBA Finals.
In the Finals, they faced the two-time defending champion Miami Heat. The Spurs absolutely crushed LeBron James and the Heat in five games, outscoring the Heat by 75 in those five games and holding them under 100 points all five games. Duncan was not only defensively dominant, but at the end his team won it all. Not bad for 38.