Tim Duncan is the best teammate of 2014-15

Tim Duncan won the 2014-15 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award and offered a few minutes of media availability Wednesday afternoon.

A lot of players outside San Antonio think Duncan is a good teammate. OK.

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan has been named the Twyman-Stokes Award victor given annually to the NBA’s teammate of the year. Players can’t vote for anyone on their own team, which is kind of odd, considering it’s an award that recognizes the best teammates.

Duncan received 72 first-place votes and totaled 1,494 points. Vince Carter of the Memphis Grizzlies tallied 818 (28), while Elton Brand of the Atlanta Hawks recorded 707 (21).

“That’s what makes it the most special, knowing that people voted me and chose me for this award”, Duncan said. He says it was instilled in him early in his career that it was important to accept roles, be selfless and work well with teammates.

And Duncan has deferred offensively to teammates like Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard despite averaging 19.5 points over his 18-year career.

This tells me a couple of things.

In addition to receiving the award, the National Basketball Association will also be making a $25,000 donation, which will be spilt, to five charities of Duncan’s choosing. In the last game of the 1957-58 regular season, Stokes suffered an injury that led to his falling into a coma days later, leaving him permanently paralyzed.

Twyman supported Stokes the rest of his life, becoming his legal guardian and advocate. “I have”, Duncan said of the story behind the award. His competitiveness to win and allow the team to succeed to years to come after he’s hung up his jersey has shown the reason why he was nominated and won this award. Duncan will be officially presented the trophy by 2013-14 Twyman-Stokes Award victor Shane Battier at a Spurs home game this fall. “We’re going to have to work them in, have them figure out how to play with us and for us to play with them”.

Twyman helped organize the NBA’s Maurice Stokes Memorial Basketball Game, which raised funds for Stokes’ medical care and, after his death in 1970 at age 36, for other players in need.