Manu Ginobili Likely To Return To Spurs

Despite rumors of retirement after 15 fulfilling seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, Argentine NBA staple Manu Ginobili is eyeing a return to the team for yet another season. The four-time NBA champion is not quite ready to hang ’em up just yet.

Not many players reach the age of 40 and still play in the league, but Ginobili will hit that mark on the 28 of this month.

Last season for the Spurs, he averaged 7.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists en route to a season where the team was swept by the eventual champions, the Golden State Warriors, in the Western Conference Finals.

A shining moment for Ginobili last season was when he blocked Houston’s James Harden from behind to seal a Game 5 overtime victory in the second round of the playoffs. In an era where laziness shines in the NBA, Ginobili has always been a fearless leader that is willing to do whatever it takes for victory, and that has translated into years of success.

Ginobili has been an intricate part to the Spurs’ run of dominance since the early 2000’s. Additionally, the Argentine serves as a point of pride for his country, for which he has represented in the Olympics winning a gold medal in 2004 Athens and a bronze medal in 2008 Beijing.

For his career, Ginobili averaged 13.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 25.8 minutes a night. All 992 of his games played have been with the Spurs, another noble mark on his historic career. Most players at least venture off once in a career but never Ginobili.

With the Western Conference undeniably the better of the two in the NBA, it’s going to be quite an uphill battle for the Spurs to even make it to the Western Conference Finals this year, let alone win a title. However, having that familiar face still suiting up each night will be comforting to the fans that have watched this team dominate under the tutelage of a historic head coach Greg Popovich for over a decade.

The Spurs lost the great Tim Duncan before last season, so losing another one of the players that made the Spurs so great would have been devastating. The two sides are working on a deal, thus expect to see Manu Ginobili back for at least one more year.

Go, Spurs, Go.

[Featured Image by Eric Gay/AP Photo]