Larry Bird vs Tim Duncan?

Tim Duncan. While Bird was a monster in his prime, injuries cut his career a bit short, and quite frankly he doesn't come close to the longevity of Duncan. Tim accomplished just about everything you could ask for in an NBA career. He leaves as SA's greatest player (wouldn't some consider Bill the greatest Celtic?), he won 5 rings and posted a 5-1 record in the finals, 2 mvp awards, 3 finals MVP's, all tim record for most all nba defense selections, tied with kareem and kobe for the most all nba selections. And the most consistent player in the NBA since Kareem. Bird and Duncan were both amazing in their primes, but Duncan continued to excel well into his later years where as injuries derailed Bird, and that's where the separation occurs. That's why I put Tim above Bird, although both are great players.

Tim Duncan

Bird imo is a top 3 player of all time. Duncan was a terrific player with an incredibly successful and long lasting career but the things Bird did in only 10 healthy NBA seasons are more impressive than that for me.

If Bird and Duncan faced each other in their primes, Bird would've dominated. Bird moved better and he passed better. He had a better outside shot than Duncan.

No disrespect to Duncan. Duncan is one of the greatest PFs of all-time. Probably second to Bird. But Bird had more weapons.

Tim Duncan has more Championship Ring than Bird. So Tim Duncan is the winner.

Bird

Using longevity as a sole reason is kind of dumb. It's not like Bird played for 5 years and his career gets cut short, he played for over a decade and his prime were better than Duncan's.

I actually have Bird one spot above Duncan. It's really close, and part of it might be I'm over compensating for my bias (huge spurs fan here), but I just think Bird's better individual success slightly outweighs Duncan's team's success. Slightly, just barely

Tim Duncan.

Bird had more basketball knowledge and made others around him better more than Duncan