Every year many NBA players decide to retire, but we rarely see three future hall of famers retire the same year. This was one of those years as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett decided to call it a career. Here’s a quick look at the three of them and their achievements.
Kobe Bryant
Lakers all-time leading scorer ended his career on April 13 of this year. For 20 seasons he played for the same team and managed to win five NBA championship rings. He was twice selected as the NBA Finals MVP, won the 2008 MVP award and was 18 times selected to the All-Star game, where four times he was named the MVP of the game.
Furthermore, internationally he won two gold Olympic medals (Beijing 2008, London 2012) but missed a chance to play in the 2006 FIBA World Championship due to a knee injury. A two-time NBA scoring champion (2006, 2007) Kobe’s eligible to be inducted to the NBA Hall of Fame in 2020.
Tim Duncan
On July 11, Tim Duncan confirmed that he was retiring from the NBA and his career-long tenure with the San Antonio Spurs. The future Hall of famer won 1,001 games, five NBA championship rings (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014) and played 1,392 career games averaging 19 points along with 10 rebounds. He scored 26,496 points, totaled 15,091 rebounds, passed for 4,225 assists and had 3,020 blocks.
Duncan, the Spurs all-time leading scorer, was named the NBA Finals MVP in 1999, 2003 and 2005 and the MVP of the 2002 and 2003 season. A 15-time All-Star, Duncan won the All-Star MVP award in 2000 and was voted as the Rookie of the Year in 1998.
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett announced his retirement on September 23 on Instagram. Although he had one year remaining on his contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves the power forward decided instead to walk into the sunset leaving behind some impressive numbers.
Garnett, A four-time rebounding champion, played 1,462 regular season games in which he scored 26,071 points passed for 5,445 assists and totaled 14,662 rebounds.
Among his many achievements, Garnett won a championship ring in 2008 with the Boston Celtics, the 2004 Most Valuable Player Award with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he was voted to the All-Star game 15 times, won the All-Star game MVP award in 2003 and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2008.
Garnett, 20th on the all-time scoring list, ended his career averaging 17.8 points, 10 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.4 blocks per game. While playing for Team USA he won an Olympic gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney.
