Open Thread: Spurs in the All-Star Game for the 20th consecutive season…
…and have appeared in 39 of 41 All-Star Games since joining the NBA
The San Antonio Spurs have acquired quite a reputation for greatness over the last two decades under Head Coach Gregg Popovich, but the past weekend as most basketball fans celebrated All-Star Weekend, a new statistic came to light.
4 Decades | San Antonio hosted the #NBAAllStar game once in history at the Alamodome, with both David Robinson and Sean Elliott representing the Spurs in the game.
More: https://t.co/GtYRhPETWc pic.twitter.com/m2g4ql4jW5
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) February 18, 2018
The San Antonio Spurs have had a player in the NBA All-Star Game 39 of the 41 times since joining the league. They also lead the league in having 20 consecutive appearances (and running) since 1998.
It all started with The “Iceman” George Gervin who was a 9 time NBA All-Star between 1977 and 1985 while bringing home the trophy as All-Star MVP in 1980. During that 9 year span, Larry Kenon joined him twice (1978, 1979) and Artis Gilmore played alongside in 1983. Artis Gilmore also made All-Stars in 1986, the first of 3 consecutive appearances by Alvin Robertson (1986-1988).
1990 saw the reign of David Robinson who appeared in 10 NBA All-Star Games between 1990 and 2001 (save the 1999 lockout year in which no All-Star Game was played). During that time, Sean Elliott joined The Admiral twice (1993, 1996), and Tim Duncan paired with Robinson in 1998, 2000, and 2001, taking the torch and continuing the Spurs participation in the All-Star festivities.
Duncan played in 13 straight All-Star Games, and 15 overall, and was named MVP in 2001. Manu Ginobili joined him twice (2005, 2011) and Tony Parker played alongside Big Fun four times (2006, 2007, 2009, 2013). In addition, Parker was the lone Spur to participate in 2012 and 2014, bringing his grand total to 6 (the graphic says 5, but I counted again and again to be sure).
Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge both picked up where Timmy left off with participation in 2016. Kawhi repeated in 2017 as well. And Aldridge was the lone Spur this year as Leonard has spent most of the season fighting a quadriceps injury.
So, although LaMarcus Aldridge played only 4 minutes, he kept a nice trend going. One that is sure to continue as Kawhi Leonard returns to action, LMA continues to shine, and Pop continues to to groom players like Dejounte Murray for NBA dominance.
Did you catch all that? There were 11 players in 39 games. Two All-Star MVP awards. And in only two seasons did the Spurs not appear in the All-Star Game. Can you find the two years? More importantly, can you see how those two season with no All-Star impacted the Spurs overall?
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Source: Pounding The Rock