Will 2013 NBA Finals Be Last Hurrah for Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker?

The San Antonio Spurs are a living, breathing, dynasty, but there will come a time when their Big Three becomes a part of history...perhaps even after this season.

It seems almost insulting to suggest that Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili would call it quits after the season they've put together. They led the Spurs to 58 victories, marking the 11th time in as many years that the Big Three have secured at least 50 wins.

They have chiseled their way through the Western Conference in convincing fashion, and they are set to appear in the NBA Finals for the fourth time in 11 years. Now doesn't seem like the time to talk about their dissolution; it just doesn't feel right.

That's just it, though: This is never going to feel right. They've been around for so long and done so much together—Duncan especially—that there's something inherently wrong with the thought of them dissolving one of the most successful triumvirates in league history. 

After winning three championships in five years, the Big Three went into a drought of sorts. Three years went by, and rumors of Parker's discontent began to gain traction. Then, almost out of nowhere, he re-upped with the team, signing through the 2014-15 campaign.

Two more ring-less seasons went by, though, and Duncan entered the summer of 2012 a free agent. More uncertainty ensued, yet he ultimately came back for three more years.

It was both comforting and unnerving. This core had gone five years without a title. Following a (supposedly) enlightening Western Conference Finals loss, they were supposed to get younger; they were supposed to change. To remain intact was stubborn and sentimental, two mental states that aren't necessarily synonymous with success (just ask the Boston Celtics).

Something Parker said to Duncan following that loss to the Thunder resonated with Timmy, though.

"I'll get you back to the NBA Finals," the point man told Duncan (via Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports). "We aren't done. You aren't done."

Turns out Parker was right. They weren't done.

San Antonio battled its way through the regular season. Though injuries crept up, the Spurs kept winning. 

But we had seen this before. Regular-season dominance was all too familiar for the Spurs. It was postseason success that had eluded them, the kind Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and all of San Antonio had become accustomed to.

Two series sweeps and a hard-fought six-game battle against the Golden State Warriors later, the Spurs are once again where they always believed they could be—the finals. Duncan and Gregg Popovich have compiled the most postseason wins (128) of any player-coach duo in NBA history, and Timmy has become the first player ever to register 500 career playoff blocks.

Lost in San Antonio's postseason run is the potential finality of it all.

Parker is 31 and under contract for two more seasons. He's not going anywhere; the Spurs can still build around him. Yet if the Spurs win, if they obtain that fourth title of the Big Three era, he could be left to carry San Antonio alone.

Duncan is signed on for two more seasons—a player option in 2014—as well. At 37, however, and with four titles already to his credit, a fifth one may be all needs before hanging it up.

Ginobili, 36 on July 28, is an unrestricted free agent after this season. He's missed at least 20 games in the last two seasons. Would a fourth title be enough to compel him to walk away?

This is likely a non-issue if the Spurs lose to the Miami Heat or Indiana Pacers. There will be some new faces brought in to strengthen their core, but the Big Three should return.

The Spurs have defied the laws of both age and loyalty, and they're now just four victories away from busting through a championship window that was once considered closed. Should they get this fourth ring (Duncan's fifth), the time to walk away from what they've spent the last 10-plus years building could be now.

Retiring on top, leaving on your own terms—that's the dream. It's one Duncan and Ginobili will have the option of realizing if the Spurs win it all.

"Every team wants to beat you," Parker said (via J.A. Adande of ESPN.com). "And that's why it makes it even more special to go back after all those years playing at a high level with the same coach, with the same Big Three."

A Big Three that is now potentially one championship away from existing only in memory.

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