Throughout his Hall of Fame 19-year career, Tim Duncan avoided the spotlight, and that hasn’t stopped since he’s retired. According to his former Spurs teammate, Bruce Bowen, Duncan was personally invited by President Obama to attend the Olympics in Rio de Janiero, and he turned it down because he simply didn’t feel like going.
From DeAntae Prince of Sports Illustrated:In a discussion about Duncan’s legacy, Bowen mentioned the Spurs star’s unassuming lifestyle, and eventually explained how Duncan turned down the President’s offer.
“Tim, his legacy is always going to be more of the foundation guy in San Antonio and a guy that wasn’t ever concerned with the limelight,” Bowen said, “but more importantly concerned with others, making sure that they could really reach the most out of their potential.
“It’s not often you find individuals like that. And it’s funny that he was offered an opportunity to fly here with the President of the United States, and he discussed it with me and I’m like, ‘You’re going, right?’ He was like, ‘You know I’m not about that stuff.’ Even that moment where you’d say, ‘I sure would like to be a part of that,’ it doesn’t happen with Tim because he’s not concerned with that stuff.”That may be the quintessential Duncan story. He didn’t have a specific reason for declining an offer from the President of the United States to attend the Olympics — he just didn’t feel like doing it and didn’t see what the big deal was. That’s just who he is.
