Grant Hill Tells The Story Of Why Tim Duncan Didn't Sign With The Orlando Magic

This is one of those fuck ups you try your whole life to attempt to keep private. The skeleton you try and bury as deep in the closet as humanly possible. And it’s no use, because one day, 18 years later, Grant Hill is going to break into your house, bust into your closet, retrieve said skeleton and then take it on national television to wave in front of America.

At first I wasn’t sure if this was a new story since most NBA fans already knew Duncan almost ditched San Antonio for Orlando back in 2000. But two things assured me that while this story wasn’t exactly new, this detail very much was.

The first was Google. Good old, reliable Google, linking me to a CBS Sports article that links back to an NBA.com article from 2010.

“I came close to leaving,” said Duncan.

How close?

“Real close.”

…

“It was a nerve-wrecking time,” (Gregg) Popovich admitted.

“It was hell. You get close to a player and you don’t want to see him leave. I never let myself believe he was going to stay. I was just getting myself prepared, for sanity reasons. It’s no fun.

“It also seems like it takes forever to resolve. That’s the worst part of it. We made our pitch to him and let him be, let him make up his own mind.”

The second thing that told me this was a new detail to the rest of the world was Tracy McGrady’s IMMEDIATE reaction to Grant Hill telling this story.

This man is SICK to his stomach. He cannot believe what he is hearing. A real doctor telling him he has cancer wouldn’t have made him as visibly ill as this news about Tim Duncan from Doc Rivers’ decision making acumen. For a guy who didn’t get out of the first round of the playoffs until he was the 15th man riding the pine for the Spurs over a decade later he has all the right in the world to slug Doc in his face for this decision.

The Seahawks throwing the ball, the Dolphins not signing Drew Brees, and Doc Rivers telling a top 10 all time player to his face that he couldn’t bring his wife on team flights round out the three worst decisions in no particular order ever of all time. Grant Hill’s wife would’ve had the Orlando Magic HUMMING in the early 2000s just by lying at that dinner. Or maybe that’s been the secret to the Spurs long term success all these years? They just let spouses on the team plane? I know Grant Hill said it was someone in Tim Duncan’s entourage, but Tim Duncan’s entourage is Matt Bonner and he wasn’t even in the League yet. Clearly that dinner was made up of Grant Hill, Mrs. Grant Hill, Doc Rivers wearing the world’s largest dunce cap, Tim Duncan, and Mrs. Tim Duncan and that’s it. All Tim wanted to do was play in the East, ride the Tea Cups at Disney and have his wife on the team plane and Doc couldn’t deliver. Unbelievable.

And while it’s a shame for Magic fans that Doc Rivers incompetence cost them complete control of the Eastern Conference for…well, however long Tim Duncan decided to play in Orlando, the rest of us NBA fans lost out on what could’ve been the best basketball playing/worst dressed duo to ever grace the hardwood.