Limited Time Only: 2015-16 May Be Final Time to See These Awesome NBA Sights

Certain NBA veterans have dazzled us for years with a trademark move, pass or particular shot. But whereas some of these players will keep their routines alive for many more years, others are approaching the end.

It's a sad upshot to acknowledge, even when certain players are on their last legs and hardly making an impact anymore. And departures, while not uncommon, typically come in short supply at the end of each season.

Next summer could, unfortunately, be different. There are a ton of elder statesmen approaching the end, many of them stars, legends and future Hall of Famers, with a couple of novelty performers sprinkled in between.

These players are not all locks to retire by any means. But they're at a point in their careers where it's possible, perhaps even likely. And when they do leave, they'll be taking those trademark moves with them.

Now more than ever is a good time to appreciate all that makes them special. There's more than one sight on which to focus, but we'll be picking those that are most distinct and have spanned the length of each career.

Our commemorative dive will be limited to retirement risks, excluding aging vets who've made it clear they plan on playing beyond 2015-16. (Call it "The Dirk Nowitzki Clause.") It will focus heavily on last season's footage and statistics. Think of this recency bias as a reminder of the "Hey, they still got it" persuasion.  

This isn't a summation of their biggest moments. Rather, it's a tip of the cap to players who have become synonymous with styles, celebrations and routines that will be missed long after they're gone.

Honorable Mention: Kevin Garnett, King of the Long Two

After signing a two-year deal worth $16.5 million to stay with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Garnett isn't expected to retire after next season.

Still, he could. He's Kevin Garnett. He does what he wants—like chuck up long two-pointers in volume, even when the NBA now frowns upon such shots.

Truthfully, it's kind of bizarre that only 3 percent of Garnett's career field-goal attempts have come from behind the arc. Nearly 33 percent of his looks have come between 16 feet and the three-point line—including 52.6 percent last season—so he's always been on the verge of routinely shooting from long distance.

Alas, he has never removed that shot from his offensive repertoire. It's the foundation of his offensive game nowadays. The Timberwolves used him almost exclusively as a high screener and top-of-the-key catch-and-shoot threat during his five-game stint in Minnesota last season.

Similar schemes applied to him during his season-and-a-half with the Brooklyn Nets, as well as his time with the Boston Celtics. Shoot, the long two has been a career staple.

And for a good reason: It works.

Garnett is shooting 45.4 percent between 16 feet and the three-point line for his career, and he shot 60.9 percent from that same range in Minnesota last season. So while the NBA has changed its stripes, Garnett has not.

Nor will he. There's no reason for him to change now.

As the 39-year-old gears up for his 21st season, these are the shots we should appreciate. Even if Garnett plays out his contract in Minnesota, there are still only a finite number of them left in his clip.

Honorable Mention: Paul Pierce, the Funky Fadeaway Game-Winner Artisan

Paul Pierce has hit a lot of big-time shots in his day, and many of them bear a striking resemblance to the one he banked home in the Washington Wizards' Game 3 victory over the Atlanta Hawks this past postseason.

Very few of his crunch-time attempts have actually gone in off the glass. And Pierce usually puts the ball on the floor more than he does in the above clip. But this play is a microcosm of his career in the clutch: dribble forward, step back, fade and then...nylon.

History is overrun with these exact sequences, many culminating in some of his finest moments. This particular shot set the stage for one of the greatest mic drops of his career, if not the greatest post-game-winner sound bite ever.

"Did you call bank?" ESPN's Chris Broussard asked.

"I called game," Pierce said. "Game."

Pushing 38, Pierce only has so many of these "I called game" memories left in him. He signed a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, but that means nothing, because he's chasing rings. The Clippers will be his fourth team in as many years, so that much is clear.

If they get Pierce his second ring next season, as they are built to do, he could retire on the spot. Even if they don't, Pierce is a risk to walk away whenever he sees fit.

Prepare yourself for that moment by being on the lookout for more of his late-game heroics next season. You'll know what they are when you see them.

The clock will be winding down, Pierce will have the ball and...well, you know what happens next.

Kobe Bryant: Michael Jordan's Offensive Soul

No, Kobe Bryant isn't Michael Jordan. But he plays exactly like him. 

Similarities between the two have been well-documented over the years, and Bryant is indeed the last glimpse of Jordan-esque basketball the NBA will ever see. The league favors pacing and spacing above all else these days, and the isolation sets and mid-range jumpers that remain synonymous with Kobe and His Airness are tracking toward extinction.

For now, there's still Bryant, a stylistic dinosaur but Jordan clone nonetheless. His fallaway shots specifically, as highlighted in the included reel, are so Jordan it's scary.

And those looks aren't going anywhere.

Bryant may be forced into more of a complementary role with the Los Angeles Lakers next season. He may be used predominantly as a spot-up shooter. Head coach Byron Scott even told NBA.com's David Aldridge that the 6'6", soon-to-be 37-year-old shooting guard will play some power forward. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Still, Bryant will never be above busting out the occasional one-footed fadeaway jumper. It took him all of 54 seconds to get one up against the Denver Nuggets in his first preseason game last year. Seriously.

If Bryant's healthy, he's going to let it fly. You can count on that. What you can't bank on is his playing beyond Year 20.

"It might be," Kobe said in June of next season being his last, per the Orange County Register's Janis Carr. "You gotta retire sometime. I'm not Benjamin Button, man."

It's good to know that Bryant is up on his F. Scott Fitzgerald reading list—or at least his Brad Pitt movies. But this admittance to aging also implies, if not guarantees, that 2015-16 will be his last crusade.

Which means we better soak in all the one-legged fadeaways—inefficient looks though they may be—we can, while we can.

Tim Duncan: Banking Bandit

Tim Duncan's career has spanned nearly two decades, included five titles and will end with his being photoshopped into NBA Mount Rushmores (almost) everywhere.

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment, though, is reminding the league and its players that the backboard isn't just a decorative accessory meant to appease rectangular apologists.

Hitting bank shots in volume has been Duncan's calling card for 18 years. Well that, and hugging the ball while whispering sweet nothings into its nonexistent ear.

Even as the San Antonio Spurs have gradually emphasized the importance of pick-and-rolls, drive-and-kicks, spot-up three-pointers and general ball movement, Duncan's backboard game has stayed strong.

He can still be found with his back to the hoop, bullying his way to an over-the-shoulder, glass-kissing bucket. Or facing up from the elbow for an angled bank. Or throwing in a jump hook that rolls over the rim and off the backboard, seemingly on purpose.

Basically, the Bank of Duncan is not only open, but it never closes.

Last season, he drilled 61 bank shots. That's more than Anthony Davis (14), Blake Griffin (25) and LaMarcus Aldridge (17) hit. Combined.

Speaking of Aldridge, he's now a Spur, and thus a reminder that even 39-year-old aliens such as Duncan cannot play forever. The Spurs lifer re-upped with the team for another two years, but he holds a player option for 2016-17, at which point he will be 40 and possibly toting six championship rings.

Next season could be it for Duncan. So don't just watch the bank, or merely like the bank, or even love the bank.

Lose yourself in it, before it's gone forever.

Manu Ginobili: Eyes-Defying Passing

Feel free to mourn the eventual loss of Manu Ginobili's Eurostep. Seriously, it's dope.

But James Harden is carrying that torch now. The Eurostep is in good shoes.

Ginobili's court vision, which apparently transcends the bounds of normal vision, will be more of a loss. He's made one-handed, off-balance, crosscourt slingshots a staple, and his passes get weird at least 100 times per season without fail.

No-look, one-handed, behind-the-back touch bounce pass? Check.

Off-the-dribble, over-the-shoulder, no-look toss to the corner? Check again.

Half-court, one-handed, thread-multiple-defenders transition bounce bullet? You know it.

And that's just last season. You can travel down a rabbit hole of Ginobili's career passing highlights if you have time to kill and feel like indefinitely isolating yourself from friends and family.

Nostalgic rabbit holes, in fact, will inevitably be the only way to bask in Ginobili's precisely placed, religiously weird playmaking abilities.

Like Duncan, the 38-year-old Ginobili is returning to San Antonio on a two-year deal. But, like Duncan, that second year is a player option. And, like Duncan once more, Ginobili already has a legacy's worth of championships (four) and various other accolades to his name.

The end, even if it doesn't come next summer, is near. Don't let it pass you by without bowing at the alter of Ginobili's sleight of hand for at least another year.

Andre Miller: Old Man's Young Man Lobs

Wherever Andre Miller goes, his flick-of-the-wrist half-court lobs go with him.

This comes as good news for Timberwolves fans who aren't keen on Tyus Jones and Zach LaVine seeing extensive time at point guard next season. Miller will head to Minnesota on a one-year deal worth the veteran's minimum, according to RealGM's Shams Charania and Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears. 

Why would a young team in the thick of an extensive rebuild latch on to a 39-year-old? Well, isn't it obvious?

Someone other than Ricky Rubio needs to toss perfectly placed lobs to Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. And while I'm not going to call Miller the patron saint of perfectly placed lobs, that's only because SI.com's Rob Mahoney already did:

"

His lobs don't linger or float, if only because the accuracy of Miller's placement and timing don't require it. Whereas other passers simply toss up the ball so that an athletic finisher might seek it out and complete the play, Miller dots his feed into a particular intersection of space and time, resulting in an utterly practical application of a highlight staple. 

"

Most alley-oop passes are meant to be flashy. Miller's try to fly under the radar. He looks bored when throwing the above one to Derrick Williams. And it's this totally sensible, almost drab, demeanor that makes his lobs so spectacular.

Enjoy them while you can. Miller is entering his 17th NBA season and could retire before 2016-17.

That, or he may eventually receive a lifetime ban after beating the "change your face" smile out of Rubio's arsenal of facial expressions.

Jason Terry: Jetting Across the Runway

Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press

Jason Terry is a free agent and hasn't yet signed a new contract. But fear not. The 37-year-old hasn't really hinted at hanging it up, and the Houston Rockets have tendered him an offer, according to the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen.

Good thing, too. Although Terry's prime is behind him, he's still a source of random offensive outbursts that end with his playing a spirited game of helicopter-airplane by himself.

Most of his jettisoning begins with a big three-pointer. And he makes a lot of those. He put in 39 percent of his treys last season, including 40.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot opportunities from downtown.

Oh, and he also joined Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Dale Ellis, Jason Kidd and Reggie Miller as just the sixth player, age 37 or older, to drain at least 125 threes in the same season. 

Assuming Terry returns to the three-point-loving Rockets, he'll have a chance to duplicate that same feat. And if he does, he'll be the first player in his age group to eclipse 125 made three-pointers twice.

Not only does that give the baby-faced Stephen Curry something to shoot for once he's 37-going-on-19, but it paves the way for more crunch-time celebrations like these.

We don't know how many of those fist-pump substitutes Terry has left in him, though. He's at that age where every year could be his last.

Next season, then, would be a good time to get "#JasonTerryIsJasonTerryingLeaguePassAlert" trending on Twitter.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited. Salary information via Basketball Insiders.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @danfavale.