San Antonio Spurs: NBA 2K18’s All-Time team snubs

San Antonio Spurs, PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 23: Tim Duncan

What players were left off the San Antonio Spurs’ NBA 2K18 All-Time team that had a case to be included?

In case you missed it, the San Antonio Spurs’ All-Time team on NBA 2K18 was revealed. It featured 15 players of the past and present, who 2K Sports picked to be part of the roster. The same went for the other 29 NBA teams.

The roster can be seen below:

Tony Parker – 94 overall (starter)
George Gervin – 96 overall (starter)
Kawhi Leonard – 94 overall (starter)
Tim Duncan – 98 overall (starter)
David Robinson – 96 overall (starter)
Manu Ginobili – 93 overall
Sean Elliott – 87 overall
LaMarcus Aldridge – 86 overall
Bruce Bowen – 86 overall
Artis Gilmore – 85 overall
Dennis Rodman – 84 overall
Avery Johnson – 83 overall
Danny Green – 83 overall
Vinny Del Negro – 81 overall
Robert Horry – 80 overall

Most names listed weren’t surprises. Your Tim Duncan’s and David Robinson’s of the world were guaranteed. The same went for George Gervin, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Sean Elliott and Kawhi Leonard, who’s the youngest member of the roster.

There were a few eye-openers, however. LaMarcus Aldridge hasn’t received overwhelming praise for his two seasons in San Antonio and might be in decline, but 2K Sports placed him on the list. Dennis Rodman had two good years on the Spurs in the 1990’s, but didn’t make an impact on a championship team and stayed for a blink of an eye.

There are other interesting cases for the roster. However, it can come down to the players that made themselves available for this video game. You won’t see Charles Barkley in it, as he wants money donated to the retired players’ association. Since he’s not in NBA 2K18, that obviously didn’t happen.

Whether this was a contribution to other players getting left out of NBA 2K18 is unknown. Let’s look past this, though, and at who was left off the Spurs’ roster.

Next: Johnny Moore and James Silas

Johnny Moore

Johnny Moore was the San Antonio Spurs’ point guard for the first half of the 1980’s. He distributed for the George Gervin-led teams and had five seasons of at least nine assists per game. The Spurs retired Moore’s No. 00.

While 2K Sports included Gervin, the company mostly focused on players from the 1990’s and on. The biggest names of the 1980’s and prior were featured, so it’s possible 2K didn’t feel Moore was big enough to include.

Moore is one of the biggest snubs on the list, but can be paired with a fellow point guard for potential reasoning.

James Silas

James Silas falls into a similar boat with Moore. He goes back to the 1970’s ABA and the early days of the merger, so modern-day fans may not know who he is. However. Silas was one of the Spurs’ best point guards.

For Silas and Moore, they didn’t have the longevity Avery Johnson had on the Spurs. That may have been the deciding factor between putting either Silas or Moore on the team, while opting for bigger name role players of the 1990’s and 2000’s to take a roster spot. You can always create them in NBA 2K18, if you don’t think an All-Time team can be without either player.

Next: Alvin Robertson and Steve Kerr

Alvin Robertson

Alvin Robertson was once one of the top San Antonio Spurs of the 1980’s. He was the main scorer in the post-George Gervin era, which didn’t lead to much regular season success for the organization. However, Robertson was one of the team’s lone bright spots.

Robertson had four seasons of at least 17 points per game from 1985-89, including three All-Star Game appearances. It tends to get lost in the shuffle, because after a 1989 trade to the Milwaukee Bucks, Robertson’s career tailed off.

There’s probably a good reason he’s not in NBA 2K18, though. He was arrested for domestic violence on multiple occasions and was involved in a child-trafficking investigation, but had all charges dropped.

Willie Anderson

For a few years, Willie Anderson looked like a good piece next to the David Robinson-led San Antonio Spurs of the early 1990’s. He broke out with 18.6 points in his rookie season, one year before Robinson joined the team. Similar success continued for the next few years.

Anderson was a Spur from 1988-95, as injuries caught up to him near the end of this run. The 1994-95 season also saw him receive a smaller role and fewer minutes, so the impact made on the franchise was dampened.

It would have been a stretch to add Anderson to the team, but he had a handful of quality years for the Spurs.

Next: Mike Mitchell and Terry Cummings

Mike Mitchell

Mike Mitchell won’t often be mentioned as one of the best San Antonio Spurs. He may even fall out of the top 10. For four years, however, he was one of its best scorers.

In a midseason trade in 1981-82, Mitchell came to the Spurs and shot terrifically from the field. He shot below 48 percent just once, along with three seasons of 22-plus points. Much of this didn’t come on great Spurs teams, but he was still one of their best players for a time.

Is it a surprise 2K Sports left Mitchell out of the game? Maybe not. He’s not a big name the fans would resonate with, except for the hardcore Spurs and NBA followers. Plus, given 2K’s emphasis on the recent past, it’s difficult to see him crack a roster that has Bruce Bowen and Danny Green on it, even if their offensive numbers fell well below Mitchell’s.

Terry Cummings

Terry Cummings had fantastic seasons for the San Diego Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks in the 1980’s, before moving to the San Antonio Spurs in the 1989 offseason. He had three very good seasons in San Antonio playing next to David Robinson, topping out at 22.4 points per game. Cummings averaged between 7.8 and 9.0 rebounds, too.

If Cummings was able to stay healthy for maybe one more season, he could have joined the All-Time team. However, in 1992-93, he played just eight games and saw a reduced role for the rest of his Spurs tenure. That left the door open for LaMarcus Aldridge to be part of the team.

Next: Rod Strickland and Dominique Wilkins

Dominique Wilkins

Okay, so Dominique Wilkins played just one season for the San Antonio Spurs in 1996-97. Seeing him make the team would be surprising and maybe a little dumbfounding. There are players that appeared on rosters the same amount, less or, just slightly more that made All-Time teams (or just flat-out questionable).

DeMarcus Cousins on the New Orleans Pelicans (17 games)
James Posey on the Memphis Grizzlies (132 games)
Allen Iverson on the Denver Nuggets (135 games)
Brendan Haywood on the Dallas Mavericks (154 games)
Darius Miles on the Los Angeles Clippers (163 games)
Aaron Gordon on the Orlando Magic (Averaged above 10.0 points per game once in three seasons; still age 21)

Rod Strickland

Rod Strickland played just two-and-a-half seasons for the San Antonio Spurs in the early 1990’s. He finished with a solid 13.9 points and 8.2 assists per game in 146 appearances, so it wouldn’t have been crazy to see him make the team, especially as a somewhat modern-day member of the Spurs.

Strickland wouldn’t make it over Avery Johnson, though, and likely falls out due to Danny Green’s placement. It doesn’t help how Johnny Moore and James Silas didn’t make it, either. This 17-year pro will be on the Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards All-Time teams in NBA 2K18.

Next: Steve Kerr and Boris Diaw

Steve Kerr

Steve Kerr will be known for his stint on the second Chicago Bulls team that three-peated in the 1990’s (1996-98). He was the sharp-shooting guard that had a 50 percent average from behind the arc, four times. One of these came on the Spurs.

Kerr played two stints in San Antonio, which came in four of the last five years of his career (2001-02 was on the old Jail Blazers team). He played in just 12.6 minutes per game for the Spurs, but was a 3-point specialist for two NBA championships and even retired in the Black and Silver.

Boris Diaw

2K Sports placed Robert Horry on the San Antonio Spurs’ All-Time team. He played five seasons for the organization and won two NBA championships, but wasn’t more than a role player off the bench. That’s not to take away his clutch playmaking and defensive prowess, but he played better for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Boris Diaw didn’t win two championships, but he did win one (2014) as a role player. He also spent four seasons with the team and provided a little bit of everything, including on the defensive end.

Next: Top 25 players in Spurs history

Putting Diaw on the All-Time team would have raised an eyebrow or two, but with how 2K Sports constructed these teams, is it a surprise this player didn’t make it?