One of the greatest winners and pure competitors the world has ever seen. He was nowhere close to the most gifted, most athletic, most rawly talented or even most celebrated not only to ever play but even that played during his time.
But he was really goddamn good at quite a few things that make you a good basketball player. And he was absolutely ruthless when it came to putting in the effort, will and commitment to winning basketball games. You might never know that or would have guessed it. A lot of people still don't know that or maybe never will. But he bled to win basketball games. Physically, mentally - it's what he did. It was an obsession.
And he won. A lot. More than all but about 3 guys ever.
He won championships as the best player on his team by a smidge, the best player on his team by a mile, the best player on his team but only after a bit of evaluation or perhaps quite a bit. Like many greats - he won rookie of the year. Unlike many greats he also earned 1st team All-NBA honors in his rookie season.
He won his first championship and FMVP in his 2nd season in the league for a franchise that had historically not only not existed for all that long but been snakebit on the highest stages.
Then - and shortly after - he gave that franchise their 2nd and 3rd MVP trophies and the year after gave them their 2nd NBA championship after playing some of the greatest basketball the sport has ever seen for an entire playoff run.
He would go on to be the centerpiece of 2 more championship Spurs teams in the next 4 years - picking up a 3rd FMVP along the way (which still to this day makes him one of only 5 players to ever do so - and if everyone's okay with being honest he should actually be the only player with 4 outside of MJ and LeBron).
Seven seasons later - and after many disappointing playoff exits - at 37 years old and no longer a perennial all-star or 20/10 per game forward, Duncan played (in the playoffs) 750 minutes, led all players in defensive and offensive rebounds, scored 16 ppg on 52% FG, was arguably the best player on his team for long stretches at a time, led the Spurs to a 5th championship AND beat (in a series) the 2 greatest players of their not his generation in their prime while doing so.
Oh shit I forgot - the year before that - at age 36 - Duncan was somewhat inarguably the best player on a Spurs team that came within a dick-hair of winning the Finals - while putting up 18/10/2 and 2.7 stocks in 35 minutes per game on 47 FG% and 81 FT%.
He is bar-none one of the 10 greatest players of all-time if your basic definition of being "good" at basketball is how much you are able to contribute to winning games (and it should be).
We could talk about his numbers. About his career double doubles and rebounds and points and blocks (although his record for total blocks in the NBA playoffs is about as unbreakable as any record in sports) but that's not what he was about. He just showed up and kicked ass and won championships and if that meant grabbing 19 rebounds and scoring 37 points and blocking 4 shots then he did that.
There will never be another Tim Duncan. There will be better players (there's already been one) and players that play his position at a higher level but no one will ever replicate what he did. He was absolutely iconic and inimitable in almost the quietest and most unnoticeable way possible.