San Antonio Spurs: Biggest Spurs Villain of All Time – Silver Conference

With the San Antonio Spurs playing deep into the postseason so often, tensions were frequently high, and attention was on them often. Naturally, enemies were formed, relationships were soured, and villains were made.

Yesterday, we kicked off Air Alamo’s Biggest Spurs Villain of All Time tournament with some heavy hitters in the Black Conference.

Today’s Silver Conference matchups will be more of the same big names. From ex-Spurs to heartbreakers, here are the first-round showdowns to determine the most despised man in San Antonio.

Spurned Exes Division: 1. Kawhi Leonard vs. 8. Stephen Jackson

1. Kawhi Leonard

If you asked any Spurs fan in June 2014 what they thought of Kawhi Leonard, they’d be grinning from ear to ear as they beamed over their quiet superstar. I would’ve done the same. Little did we all know, he’d become one of the most despised guys in San Antonio a few years later.

There’s way too much to the Leonard saga to give a full report, and frustratingly way too much we still don’t know about what all went down between him and the Spurs. In short, an injury that occurred against the Golden State 2017 Western Conference Finals kept Kawhi sidelined for the entire series.

The following season, controversy stirred over how the Spurs were managing Kawhi’s injury, with him and his uncle accusing the team of not believing the severity of it and eventually asking out of San Antonio.

Among Spurs faithful, there are three camps when it comes to Kawhi nowadays. Some still root for him for what he accomplished, some wish for him to fail in everything from now on, and some are in-between.

I tend to fall in the in-between camp but heavily lean toward the negative. I understand Leonard wanting to move on to a big market team, but I feel that the way he went about that was all wrong. Of course, that’s just my uninformed opinion since no one really knows exactly what happened besides the team and Kawhi himself.

8. Stephen Jackson

Stephen Jackson is another divisive personality among Spurs fans. He had huge shots in the 2003 playoffs to help San Antonio to its second NBA title, yet he talked trash about those that helped get him there. He’s called Gregg Popovich the smartest coach he ever played for while also saying he wanted to kick him in his face.

Jackson’s personality is a double-edged sword. His swagger and attitude gave him the edge the Spurs needed to complete their ’03 title run. It also currently helps him be an entertaining podcast host of All the Smoke. His lack of humility, however, also got him cut by the Spurs right before the playoffs in 2013.

Jackson, of course, went on to claim that he would’ve gotten the rebound over the 6-11 Chris Bosh and also would’ve locked up Ray Allen to prevent the Spurs’ Game 6 collapse in the 2013 NBA Finals. Sure, Jack.

And speaking of Ray Allen…

Heartbreaker Division: 4. Ray Allen vs. 5. Derek Fisher

4. Ray Allen

If you feel the urge to skip this slide, I’d completely understand. The four versus five matchup features two guys that likely kept the Spurs from having one more championship. Being that Ray Allen‘s shot almost certainly prevented a 2013 ring, he gets the higher seed in this division.

To non-Spurs fans of the NBA, Allen’s 3-pointer in Game 6 of the Finals is one of the most incredible shots in history. We know this because every sports outlet loves to tweet out a replay of the shot every time it’s the anniversary of the shot, on Ray Allen’s birthday, on Chris Bosh’s birthday, and just about every other day.

To Spurs fans, though, it’s the single most painful few seconds a sports fan can go through. The only redeeming quality to the fact that Ray Allen’s ultra-clutch shot occurred was the fact that it led to the 2014 San Antonio Spurs, who became one of the greatest redemption stories of all time.

5. Derek Fisher

In 2004, the San Antonio Spurs were looking to do what they couldn’t in 2000 and defend their title. Meanwhile, after being eliminated by the Spurs in 2003, the Los Angeles Lakers had accumulated a pair of Hall of Fame ring chasers to join all-time greats Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.

Gary Payton and Karl Malone joined the fray in L.A. to form one of the first superteams the NBA has seen. Despite that, the Spurs had the Lakers on the verge of going down 3-2 in the series when Tim Duncan hit a miraculous shot over Shaq to put the Spurs up by one point with only 0.4 seconds remaining in Game 5.

That’s when, of all people on the court, Derek Fisher somehow hit a catch-and-shoot jumper in those 0.4 seconds to steal the game and send the series back to Los Angeles. It’s since been established that no human can catch and shoot in 0.4 of a second, but hey, I guess every rule has to start somewhere.

“Just Stop Talking” Division: 3. Kevin Garnett vs. 6. Charles Barkley

3. Kevin Garnett

If you’ve ever gone head-to-head against Kevin Garnett, the chances are high that he’s insulted you at some point. It’s just the Garnett way — he liked to use his mouth to get under his opponents’ skin and play mind games to gain a competitive advantage.

Well, actually, even Garnett’s teammates weren’t safe from his barraging, as he reportedly made teammate Glen Davis cry during a 2008 game against Portland.

According to Paul Pierce, Garnett once even asked to rub Joakim Noah’s hair when he was a rookie, which Noah took as disrespectful. “I looked up to you, man,” said Noah to Garnett. “He’s a very mean guy,” Noah later said in a 2010 ESPN article.

When it comes to issues with the Spurs, there’s been a story floating around that’s never been confirmed, however, is a well-known rumor in NBA circles. In 1990, Tim Duncan’s mother passed away from breast cancer. The rumor says Garnett once told Duncan, “Happy Mother’s Day, Mother******” as he went to the free throw line in a 1999 matchup.

Again, this has never been confirmed, but it’s clear that Tim Duncan never liked Garnett as a person, so it wouldn’t be that surprising. Duncan ended his career with a 33-19 head-to-head advantage over Garnett, including a 6-2 record in the playoffs.

6. Charles Barkley

During the Spurs’ dominant runs in the 2000s, they were frequently featured on TNT due to their frequent, deep playoff runs. It was during that stretch that Charles Barkley decided to pick on the city of San Antonio.

Before I get into it, let me preface this by saying I appreciate Barkley’s sense of humor and the sense of humor of Inside the NBA as a whole. There’s a reason it’s an Emmy-Award-winning show. Looking back at Barkley’s comments, I can tell he was mostly joking to create a fun rivalry with the city. I’ll get back to what really bothered me, but first, let’s jump into what Barkley said about San Antonio.

“Them women down there, they ain’t got not skinny women,” said Barkley during the 2010 NBA playoffs. Barkley went on to double down repeatedly on this statement in subsequent broadcasts and continued the bit over the course of years.

Sir Charles also claimed San Antonio to be a “Podunk” city, which, by definition, means a small, insignificant, dull town. In 2013, he kept up his premise by talking about the “big ol’ women down in San Antonio.” Finally, in 2017, Barkley issued an “apology,” in which he said he understands why the women of San Antonio are so big after finding out how delicious churros are.

Personally, some of his comments were funny when taken in the lighthearted spirit I believe he meant them in. What irks me more is how Barkley has kept this bit up for over seven years. I’m a fan of comedy as well as basketball, so at some point, I feel like Charles needs some new material.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Barkley drag this old joke up when the Spurs play on TNT again next season.

Cheap Shot Artist Division: 2. Karl Malone vs. 7. Jason Terry

2. Karl Malone

There are many, many reasons to dislike Karl Malone, from his off-court allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a minor to the fact that a full-length article can be written about his dirty elbow plays alone. Since I’m talking about villainous traits regarding the Spurs, I’ll stick with the latter issue.

In April 1998, the Spurs took on Malone and the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center. Not even halfway through the first quarter, David Robinson became a victim of Malone’s infamous elbows. After Robinson deflected an entry pass to Malone from John Stockton to Malone, Karl decided to wildly swing his other elbow, nailing The Admiral directly in the temple.

Robinson spent the night in the hospital, and Malone was suspended one game and fined $5,000 for the incident. There are many more stories of Karl seriously hurting players on the court, including the time he caused Isiah Thomas to get 40 stitches by elbowing him on a driving layup attempt.

It was easy to despise Karl Malone on the court, and is just as easy to despise him off it.

7. Jason Terry

There’s no other way to put it, Jason Terry was annoying. On the court, he was a better-than-average role player for the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 16.1 points and 4.1 assists per game, but his celebrations were just plain irritating. If you’re not familiar, see the photo above.

Terry would do an “airplane flying” gesture anytime he made a big play, playing into the fact that his nickname was The Jet.

Even that part is annoying — there was already a better player named The Jet in Kenny Smith, but I digress.

Terry also had his own cheap shot back in the 2006 playoffs while chasing a loose ball in a crucial Game 5. As a scrum ensued with Terry, Michael Finley, and Manu Ginobili, Terry then punched Finley where no man would ever like to be punched.

Terry was suspended for Game 6 for the play, but the Mavericks were still able to narrowly defeat San Antonio that year in seven games.

So there you have it: 16 unlikable men, eight showdowns to narrow down the field. Stay tuned to our site and @AirAlamo on Twitter to vote and follow the results of the tournament.