12 reasons Tim Duncan can be considered as the greatest basketball player of all time

11) Tim Duncan vs Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan present a stark contrast in personalities

Kobe Bryant has cemented his place among the top 10 greatest players of all time with his illustrious career with the Lakers. That being said, one can't discount the fact that he placed individual accomplishments above his team.

The objective of competing in basketball games is to win. Kobe Bryant put up gaudier numbers, but his warmest admirers would concede that he placed himself way above his team.

Here's how a Laker legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar put it: "I would say that Tim Duncan has had a better career just because they've been able to win more consistently, and they didn't have to rely on Tim all the time,"

He added, "Kobe has worn his body out. He's only like 36 years old and he's worn his body out. It's falling apart because of the stress that he had to do just taking on the load that he did, but he wanted to do it that way. That was that."

Speaking of the great Abdul-Jabbar, he's the only player who comes close to Tim Duncan's level of sustained excellence. And Duncan has surpassed his win-loss record of 588 games. Duncan and Kareem are the only two players in the 26,000 points, 15,000 boards, 3,000 blocks club.

Advantage: Duncan