Tim. Duncan

That summer 24 years ago (1997), the NBA's most classic "wrestling game" was quietly staged, and at least 4 NBA teams "blatantly and deliberately lost", just waiting for the seemingly bland college player Tim. Duncan

To be honest, almost every year the NBA draft has two or three super handsome men with extraordinary talents, which not only attracts long guns and short guns from all walks of life. It has attracted the bosses behind many teams in the league. Among them, the best performer can wear the top hat of "The Best Candidate" early before the draft.

Throughout the NBA's more than 70 years of history, it is not uncommon for super newcomers to be chased by many teams. But if you have to choose an extremely exciting, intense, and impressive one, then the story of "multiple teams ruining and robbing Duncan" that year must be the last to tell.

What is the appeal of a college player? Which teams were involved in the swing to get Duncan? What's the untold story behind it? Let's take a look today.

Jerry West: The boy is now going into the draft, so he must be number one (Duncan, sophomore).

Tim Duncan was born in the Virgin Islands, but as a child, he was not a gifted basketball teenager, but a very professional swimmer. At the age of 12 and 13, he won the American Junior 400m Freestyle Championships.

Who knew that Duncan had just become a swimming star, and his hometown suffered a serious hurricane disaster, which directly destroyed the swimming place where he usually trained. Duncan's swimming career came to an end for the time being, because he did not have a swimming field and was naturally afraid that sharks would not train in the sea.

To help Duncan adjust his mindset, his family began exposing him to basketball. Because of his height advantage and wide palms, Duncan quickly became acquainted with his peers in basketball. When he graduated from high school, he was invited to many prestigious basketball schools to receive scholarships. (I finally started my NCAA basketball career at Wake Forest University in 1993.) )

Fast forward to 1995, Duncan's sophomore year. In a game between the Devil's Deacons of Wake Forest University and Wallace University, the core duncan of the team easily scored 25 points. At the time, there was a big man sitting on the sidelines – the famous NBA player Jerry West. It's hard to verify whether West went to see Duncan play or happened to meet him, but after the game he left a message: If the kid went to the NBA draft now, he must be a champion.

Duncan Jr. once beat David Robinson, one of the NBA's top 50 superstars.

Although Father West thought in 1995 that Duncan had the strength of an NBA rookie champion, Duncan, who devoted himself to basketball, did not seem to be in a hurry to go to the professional arena and continue to polish himself in the NCAA.

In 1996, when the U.S. men's basketball team was preparing for the Atlanta Olympics, Duncan, a junior in college, encountered the opportunity to play against the world's top players. (Warm-up format)

The outcome of the game at the time was unknown, but David Robinson, one of the superstars of the U.S. men's basketball team, later recalled:

Our team includes not only me, but also players like O'Neal and Olajuwon. As a result, the young man actually cut 22 points on our heads.

Seriously, I always thought I was a good defender. But I just couldn't stop his attack that day, and his performance was really great.

To be honest, I was a little nervous at the time, but he was quite calm on the court, expressionless, as if he had just done something very ordinary.

You know, in 1996, David Robinson was selected as an All-Star many times, the best time, the best defensive time, the MVP, and was selected as a superstar in the NBA's top 50 superstar list.

In 1997, Duncan decided to participate in the draft, and the NBA's most classic smashing war officially began.

With Duncan's four-year college career officially coming to an end in 1997, his next stop in the NBA has become a foregone conclusion.

The youngster, who is sure to enter the NBA, also drove many NBA teams crazy in the 1996-97 season, and even threw away the loss in order to get a higher probability of winning duncan.

The most iconic and obvious of these are: the Celtics, Spurs, 76 and the Grizzlies.