Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant head 2020 Hall of Fame class. (Getty Images)

Tim Duncan was one of the most unique superstars in basketball. He did everything low key. You never heard him publicly complain about his contract. You never heard him say anything bad about a coach or player. And on his final NBA game in 2016, he briefly pointed a finger to the ceiling before walking into the tunnel with a towel over his head.

Duncan’s farewell game summarized his 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. Quiet. Simple. All business.

It was a complete contrast with Kobe Bryant’s final game with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe dropped 60 points on the Utah Jazz before a raucous Lakers crowd at Staples Center and before Kobe left the court he took the mic, thanked his fans and dropped the mic with his now famous phrase, “Mamba out!”

Kobe’s farewell game summarized his 20 seasons with the Lakers. Dazzling. Flashy. Spectacular.

Bryant gave himself the moniker Black Mamba for the way he quickly struck down an opponent. Kobe’s Lakers teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, gave Duncan the nickname Big Fundamental because of the way Timmy went about destroying his opponents in the most elemental way.

Styles make fights and the Lakers-Spurs showdowns were comparable to classic heavyweight fights. Duncan’s career intersects with Bryant’s. From 1999 to 2010, the Spurs and Lakers were the class of the league. They met in the postseason seven times: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2013. Kobe’s Lakers eliminated Duncan’s Spurs four times, but Duncan can brag that his Spurs swept the Lakers in 1999 and 2013. It’s a nice bookend to one of the best rivalries in sports.

You can’t write Kobe’s basketball biography without Duncan, and you can’t write Duncan’s without Kobe. Both were the center of attention, but in their own special way. They are connected in a sense that Bryant was driven to beat Duncan and Duncan was driven to beat Bryant. It’s appropriate that both men enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in the same year. Joining Bryant and Duncan as 2020 Hall of Fame inductees are 15-time NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett, four-time National Coach of the Year Eddie Sutton, two-time NBA Champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich, 10-time WNBA All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings, three-time NCAA National Championship Coach of Baylor Kim Mulkey, five-time Division II National Coach of the Year Barbara Stevens and longtime FIBA executive Patrick Baumann. Many pundits are calling this class the best ever. Hard to argue that fact.

However, with all due respect to the other greats being enshrined into Springfield, Mass. in 2020, they all fall behind the two transcendent superstars in Black Mamba and Big Fundamental. Both men are not just worthy of the Hall of Fame but they belong in the top 10 of all-time great players.

Bryant will be enshrined posthumously after his tragic death on Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash, making this year’s event extremely somber. We’ll never get to hear Bryant’s Hall of Fame speech, and it would have been a doozy.

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening to ruin this year’s Hall of Fame festivities in Springfield, and it would be a shame if we’re unable to hear Duncan’s induction speech because his basketball odyssey is anything but boring. His resume reads like a decorated serviceman: 15-time NBA All-Star (1998, 2000-11, 2013, 2015), eight-time member of the All-Defensive first team (1999-2003, 2005, 2007, 2008), five-time NBA champion with the Spurs (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014), three-time Finals MVP (1999, 2003, 2005), two-time regular-season MVP (2002 and 2003), 1998 Rookie of the Year. Duncan is the only player in NBA history with 1,000 or more wins with one team. He is ranked in the top 10 for NBA all-time rebounds and blocks leaders. As a college athlete at Wake Forest, Duncan earned ACC Player of the Year and was unanimous first-team All-American in 1996 and 1997. In 1997, he also collected the Wooden, Naismith, Rupp, and Oscar Robertson Awards, while being named AP College Player of the Year.

Former Michael Jordan teammate B.J. Armstrong said on ESPN’s “First Take” that 6-foot-11 Duncan would have given the ’90s Bulls the most problem.

“Tim Duncan was a marvelous player. He played the game from the four, the five position. He was one of the unique players,” Armstrong said. “Like a Michael Jordan, who could get to spaces on the court you couldn’t do anything about.”

“Technically speaking, Tim Duncan to me is a player that is really as unique a talent as I’ve seen in the NBA,” Armstrong said. “And if you’re going to have a player that’s going to counter the talent like a Michael Jordan, who was almost like flawless technically in his game, Tim Duncan can do that.”

Duncan is regarded as the greatest power forward in basketball. But that’s a bit misleading because Duncan was really a center. Duncan played the majority of his Spurs career at center. He may not start at center most of the time, but he finished games at center almost all the time. Even one of his greatest rivals, Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, considered him a center. His own coach, Gregg Popovich, acknowledged as much when he was asked before a playoff game who the Spurs would start at center. Popovich said, “Tim Duncan, like we have for the last 15 years.”

Popovich, who once described Duncan ‎”like my son,” told an amazing story about Duncan’s first practice with the Spurs. Going into the 1997 training camp, Duncan was the hot-shot rookie and No. 1 pick in the draft. But the Spurs already had an All-Star center in David Robinson. So what did Popovich tell both men on who should play where? “Nothing,” Popovich said.

According to Pop, as soon as the scrimmage started, Timmy went to the low block and David went to the high post near the free throw line. They both naturally took their positions without saying a single word. It was indicative of how Duncan approached his job. No drama. Ho-hum. All business.

Reggie Miller played his entire 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. (GETTY IMAGES)

Basketball is king in the state of Indiana and Reggie Miller is the undisputed prince of the Pacers.

Very few basketball studs play their entire careers with one team, and Miller was blessed to play his entire 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. He was the 11th overall pick in the 1987 draft, but the selection was greeted with some pessimism because Pacers fans wanted Indiana schoolboy legend and Indiana University All-American Steve Alford. But it didn’t take long before Miller, who grew up in Riverside, Calif., and attended UCLA, won over the hearts of Indiana fanatics.

Miller is one of the 12 newest members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and to honor his induction into basketball royalty in 2012, OneManFastbreak.net ranks his five greatest moments:

5-MILLER TIME IN OVERTIME

Even though he was approaching the twilight of his career, Miller proved he could still raise his game in the biggest of stages during the 2002 NBA playoffs. The No. 8-seeded Pacers stretched the top-seeded Nets to five games in the first round, and Miller was at his absolute best in Game 5. He sent the game into overtime with an improbable turnaround bank shot from behind the 3-point line and sent the game into a second overtime with a driving dunk (and Miller rarely drove to the basket) past Kerry Kittles. The Nets eventually won the game and advanced to the NBA Finals, but Miller carved out another special playoff performance.

4-PUSHES JORDAN, BULLS TO THE LIMIT

Reggie Miller gets away with a shove on Michael Jordan in the 1998 Eastern Conference playoffs.

Reggie made 2,500 threes throughout his illustrious career, but none bigger than the one he hit in Game 4 of the 1998 playoffs against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The play began with Miller running Ron Harper through a screen. Once he got free at the top of the key he saw Jordan and brushed him off with an obvious shove. Miller admitted it was an offensive foul, and he was just as surprised a foul wasn’t called. That non-call greatly benefited the Pacers as Miller got a clean look and buried a clutch game-winning 3-pointer. The Pacers extended the Bulls to the fullest, only to lose in seven games. However, Jordan certainly got a little dose of his own medicine in the hard-fought series.

3-DROPS 57 POINTS VS. HORNETS

The highest scoring game of Miller’s NBA career occurred on Nov. 28, 1982, when he dropped 57 points on the Charlotte Hornets to set the Pacers’ all-time franchise record. Reggie put on a show at Charlotte Coliseum, abusing Hornets guard Dell Curry for most of the night. Pacers announcer described the scoring spree as a volcanic eruption. Miller exploded for 23 points in the third quarter and knocked down 21 consecutive free throws for the game.

2-EIGHT POINTS IN 8.9 SECONDS

Reggie Miller drives on his nemesis, Knicks guard John Starks in the 1995 NBA playoffs.

Miller enjoyed playing in New York’s Madison Square Garden and absolutely loved tormenting the Knicks. His stunning performance in Game 1 Eastern Conference semifinals in which he scored eight points in 8.9 seconds only heightened New York’s genuine disdain for him. After hitting a three with 13 seconds left to cut the N.Y. Lead to three, the Knicks had trouble inbounding the ball and the ball found Miller in the corner after getting away with shoving Greg Anthony to the ground. Miller stepped back and buried another three to tie the game. The Knicks had a chance to regain the lead but John Starks, Miller’s nemesis, missed two free throws and then Patrick Ewing missed a contested 12-footer in the paint. After grabbing the rebound, Miller was fouled and knocked down two free throws to complete an improbable Pacers comeback.

1-SHUT UP, SPIKE!

Miller described Indiana’s Game 5 win against the Knicks in the 1994 East finals a watershed moment for the Pacers franchise. The Knicks were considered the bullies of the East and heir to the throne vacated by the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan retired. The Knicks-Pacers series was a classic major-market team versus small-market squad. Miller had had enough of Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, and the rest of Knicks, who had eliminated the Pacers in the previous two seasons. So Miller took it upon himself to lift an entire franchise with one incredible quarter. He scored 25 points in the fourth, knocking down three after three right in the face of his nemesis John Starks and Hubert Davis. Miller, who finished with 39 points, was feeling so good he got into a running smack-talk with longtime Knicks fan Spike Lee, who was sitting courtside. The chatter turned into a huge spectacle when Miller kept staring down Lee with each cold-blooded 3-point shot. And when Miller swished a trey from near midcourt he looked at Lee’s direction, with his arms cocked back, and uttered a few expletives (if you can read lips he said “Shut the f*** up, b***h!”) while grabbing his throat to signify the choke sign. Lee claims Miller also grabbed something else besides his throat but it wasn’t caught on video. Even though the Pacers lost the series, the game turned into one the most memorable moments in NBA playoff history and it catapulted Miller from being Cheryl Miller’s younger brother to a bonafide superstar and one of basketball greatest villains.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Karl Malone announced his retirement from the NBA on Feb. 13, 2005 in Salt Lake City, a place he called home for 18 seasons. (REUTERS)

When the 1992 Dream Team took time off to visit golf courses in Barcelona, almost everyone on the team was itching to bust out their golf clubs out and take their cuts. Karl Malone saw the well-manicured greens, uninviting bunkers and deep roughs, and called it a “waste of pasture.”

Karl Malone was a different breed of athlete. For one, he’s a stand-up guy whose loyalty is admirable. He prefers Harleys over Ducatis; monster trucks over Escalades; 18-wheelers over Rolls Royces. “Growing up, I was always fascinated by equipment,” he said.

He also enjoys riding horses and, when he’s not sporting a baseball cap, he dons a cowboy hat. He wears T-shirts and jeans to work, and probably doesn’t own a tuxedo. The last time he got dressed up for an occasion was at the 1985 NBA Draft in New York. Remember that fashion debacle? After David Stern called Malone’s name with the 13th overall selection, the Louisiana Tech stud walked to the stage wearing white pants, white shirt, a blue coat and tie that looked like it was purchased at Toys R Us.

Somewhere on the red carpet, Joan and Melissa Rivers are having a heart attack after seeing Malone’s fashion faux pas. He just looked real uncomfortable and probably couldn’t wait to rip that tie off his neck, cut off his sleeves and pop a cold one in the green room. You know it crossed his mind.

Malone may have been a pro basketball player, but he’s more of a Big Country than City Slicker. He loves the great outdoors. He owns a cabin in Kenai, Alaska, where he goes fishing and hunting with family and friends. “I just like to kick back and just enjoy life,” Malone said. “We grew up hunting and fishing in Louisiana. When I come here [Alaska], it’s not just about fishing. It’s about relaxing and getting your mind right. When I come here, I forget who I am. We don’t talk about sports.”

If Malone were cast in a Hollywood western movie, he would fit in like a glove. Wait a minute! I believe we have evidence of Malone, the actor, in a western flick. He played Elijah Abel in the 1994 movie “Rockwell.” See photo below:

Can you guess the guy on the right? If you said "Karl Malone" you just earned your spurs.

Born and raised in Summerfield, La., Karl Anthony Malone knew only one way to get things – through hard work. He earned every thing he got in life, which sums up his incredible basketball career that is about to be permanently highlighted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

The man hardly took shortcuts, possessing a work ethic that is second to none. He is self-man professional athlete who accomplished basically everything needed to be accomplished in the game of basketball, except for winning a championship. But even though he never won an NBA title, he never allowed that void in his basketball life to define him.

But title or no title, the man known as The Mailman delivered one powerful NBA career.

At 6 feet 9 and 260 pounds, Malone was the ideal power forward; a pioneer of the position. If you look up “power forward” in the NBA dictionary, it will say SEE KARL MALONE.

Malone was a physical marvel. Built like a superhero and blessed with a motor that always pushed forward, he demoralized opponents with his brute strength and relentless nature. In 18 years with the Utah Jazz, he led the franchise to two NBA Finals appearances and won two regular-season MVP awards (1997 and 1999). In 1,476 games, he scored 36,928 points – second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Malone was also dependable. From 1985 to 2003, he missed only 10 games. He was a real basketball iron man.

But Malone had plenty of help in Utah.

John Stockton, the NBA’s all-time leader in assists and steals, made sure The Mailman always delivered on game days. The two formed one of the best 1-2 combos in league history.

Stockton to Malone!

Whenever legendary Jazz play-by-play announcer “Hot Rod” Hundley said those words it was like sweet music to Jazz fans and basketball fanatics in the entire state of Utah. Without Stockton and Malone, there would be no Delta Center in Salt Lake City (or Energy Solutions Arena).

Stockton and Malone played 1,412 games together and are immortalized outside of Energy Solutions Arena with bronze statues and an intersection in Salt Lake bears their names.

“We’re sorta like Siamese twins,” Malone said of his good friend John. “I look at him and I was warriors, and we go out and fight battles. There’s no doubt in my mind what he’s thinking and I don’t think there’s any doubt on his mind what I’m thinking when we go on that court, and that’s to win.

“When we’re gone from the game of basketball, when you mention one you gotta mention the other one. If we happen to go to the Hall of Fame one day they’ll probably get us both there together.”

Well, almost.

Stockton was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, along with Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. “We’ve won and lost a lot of games together. We’ve been through a lot together,” Stockton said of his good friend Karl.

Malone left Utah in 2003 to join Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton in Los Angeles, hoping for a Hollywood ending to his storied basketball career. The Lakers reached the 2004 NBA Finals, but lost in five games to the Detroit Pistons. Malone hobbled off the court one final time and never looked back.

That’s not the way a heroic cowboy would ride off to the sunset.

He could have played another season with the Lakers, but decided to retire. Now, depending on who you talk to, there are varying reports on why Malone retired. Here’s one explanation: Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s Bryant’s wife, had a reported run-in with Malone. In a story published in the L.A. Times in 2004, Vanessa jokingly asked Malone “Hey, cowboy, what are you hunting?” in reference to Malone’s hat and boots. Malone reportedly responded with, “I’m hunting for little Mexican girls.” That last comment infuriated Vanessa, and she told Kobe about it. Kobe confronted Malone about the incident and it caused a major rift between the two.

Whether or not Kobe had something to do with Malone not returning to the Lakers remains unproven. The bottom line is Malone went to L.A. to give it one more shot at winning that elusive title, but fell short.

However, on Aug. 13, 2010, Malone will finally get his title. It will say “Karl Malone, basketball Hall-of-Famer.”