Spurs' Big Three was other-worldly, but let's not forget about D-Rob

San Antonio Spurs' David Robinson (L) tries to man
San Antonio Spurs' David Robinson (L) tries to man | DOUG COLLIER/GettyImages

The San Antonio Spurs are a franchise full of winners, plain and simple. Of all NBA players to log 1,000 career games, it should be no surprise that Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Tim Duncan are the only players with a win percentage over .700.

The next three closest players are Danny Ainge, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, and Scottie Pippen. Most of the players that have stayed in the league that long have won more than they lost, but Thaddeus Young, Rudy Gay, Jamal Crawford, Juwan Howard, and a handful of others are exceptions. 

If the Spurs’ Big Three are the best winners in NBA history, where does that rank the other Spurs’ greats? George Gervin played 1060 games in the ABA and NBA, but only posted a winning percentage of .544. David Robinson, however, was snubbed from the list.

Robinson had a career winning percentage of .682, which puts him in elite company right alongside the second tier of winners. Robinson would fit right in alongside Pippen, Robert Horry, Ainge, Kareem, and Shaquille O'Neal. It even edges out Micheal Jordan (His Airness had a career winning percentage of .659). 

The only issue is that Robinson did not play 1000 games and that’s the main parameter of the graph posted above. Robinson falls short of that mark, but even if he lost every single game up until 1000 career outings, he would still sit at a 673-327 record and have a .673 winning percentage, beating out Jordan, LeBron James, Chris Paul, and the Jazz duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone. 

I understand that the rules on the Tweet exclude Robinson, but in a way, it’s even more impressive that we can give him several losses and he would still beat out those all-time greats. Robinson played 14 seasons in the NBA and eight of them were played with at least one member of the Big Three. Even so, Robinson won enough games on his own to rack up a .673 winning percentage all on his own, which still passes Jordan’s career number. 

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Robinson couldn’t be included on the list for obvious reasons, but his individual accomplishments are always overshadowed by the dynasty that came right after him. Don’t forget: he’s a league MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year all on his own, and seven of his ten All-Star nods came when he was the only star on the team.

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